Lost Cause
by Alpha Man 2.0
Summary: Mercenary is back with a new job and Kim wants to know what's going on. Sequel to For Hire. Rated T for suggestive adult sequences. Please read and review! Thank you!
1. Chapter 1

Previous Story: "For Hire"

**_Previously on Kim Possible _(WARNING: Spoilers!)**

_Kim Possible is a girl who can do anything: stop an avalanche or an evil super villain. She goes to high school with her friend and sidekick, Ron Stoppable (and his pet mole rat Rufus), by day; by night she tackles the baddies that threaten the world. She's helped by a computer genius, Wade, and a network of grateful people that she's helped in the past, who give her free rides all around the planet to where she's needed._

_Recently, Kim encountered a new threat in the form of the villain, Mercenary. He proved to be quite a challenge and Kim learned not to underestimate the guy's sadistic mentality. Mercenary's motives were not clear when he was temporarily working for Dr. Drakken, as became known to Kim when he abruptly switched sides because Global Justice offered a larger payoff. Also, Kim met and welcomed a new boy at school, Nathan "Nate" Porter, who engaged in a brief relationship with Kim's best friend, Monique. The two broke up, though._

---

"Lost Cause"

High above the city, a single seated silver jet soared through the midnight sky. Inside sat Mercenary, wearing the same battle suit as he had before. The outfit was a mix of black and white, although his arms, legs, and chest were silver. Mercenary sported gauntlets on the forearms, which housed several projectile launchers.

His head was covered by a silver helmet as well, but the face of the helmet reminded one of a paint ball mask. The eyes behind that helmet glanced at the jet's heads up display. On a small screen to his left, the words, "Target: Joe Barracuda," glowed. Mercenary smirked under his helmet. It was time to go to work, again.

Joe Barracuda was not exactly an honest, legitimate business man, though that's what most of the world knew him as. He was actually a dangerous crime lord, though himself a coward. Barracuda was being transported via convoy and rode in the back seat of a limo. Since she didn't know about Barracuda's double life, Kim Possible was escorting him. Besides, Joe hadn't done anything wrong today, and Kim felt obligated to help when he called her for assistance and protection.

"Are you sure he can't get me?" Barracuda asked nervously, wiping the sweat off his hands. He was an overweight, balding fellow, who wore a gray buttoned shirt that was wet at the armpits. Kim rolled her eyes, "Relax, Mr. Barracuda, as long as I'm here, you're safe."

"Do you know what Mercenary is capable of? I've heard stories! No one escapes him!"

"I've actually faced Mercenary in combat, and yes, he can be quite a handful. But I know his tricks by now."

"Really? I don't think you know what you're up against, Ms. Possible!"

"Mr. Barracuda," Kim began, "you have your men following and leading you in this convoy, plus you called me for help. Besides, why would Mercenary want to capture you?"

"I don't know! There's no price on my head, I don't think! I just heard that he was looking for me! What did I ever do to him?" Then Joe Barracuda was suddenly silent, as he didn't want to arouse suspicion in Kim by bringing up his criminal career. Perhaps he _had_ insulted Mercenary somehow, and now he would pay for it…

…with his life!

Mercenary's jet flew overhead, unknown to Barracuda's convoy below. He pressed a button on the console, and two handlebars appeared above his head. He held them as the seat and bottom of the jet opened up. He lifted his legs as the jet descended quickly to his target. The handlebars lowered Mercenary through the opening of the jet's seat, and he looked as though he were hanging from the bottom of the plane.

With a quick movement, Mercenary let go. He fell speedily towards the convoy and activated the jetpack on his back. He was then hovering in the air, leaned toward the convoy, and rocketed himself to it. Meanwhile, Kim checked with Wade on the Kimmunicator, wondering if there was secretly a price on Barracuda's head. Her hunch was wrong, and there wasn't.

Joe Barracuda began to sweat more and more as he continuously glanced at the tiny splinter-sized hands on his wrist watch, making the near-annoying tick tock sound. "I told you to chill," Kim said to him, "I can assure you that I won't let Mercenary get to you. Who has the better reputation, him or me?"

At this, he raised an eyebrow, "Oh, but who has the better _motivation_, you or him?"

Kim scowled. The driver, meanwhile, was grinning from what he was hearing behind him. His amusement, however, was cut short when someone peeked into his window. "Clean your windshield, mister?" Mercenary asked. The driver screamed, realizing that Mercenary was on top of the car and was peering right into the driver's eyes.

At the sound of the driver's scream, Kim whipped out her Kimmunicator. "Ron! Now!" Mercenary was delighted to see Kim Possible again, but he was surprised when her goofy sidekick burst out of the sunroof of the car in front of them. Ron Stoppable's rocket skates propelled him at Mercenary, who glanced up and rolled to the left, making Ron bounce off the roof and go straight at the car that followed Barracuda's.

Mercenary shook his head with dissatisfaction. He felt someone grab his right foot; it was Kim. She had an aggravated look on her face, evidenced by the frown. She was sitting on the side window's ledge; her legs were still in the car for balance. Mercenary sighed and kicked her in the face, making her wobble back and forth. Mercenary instantly got to his feet and used his force-shields to cut a large rectangle in the roof of the car.

Barracuda screamed in fear as Mercenary grabbed him by the collar. "Why don't we have a little talk, huh?" Mercenary asked grimly. His voice was raspy and cold, a trait which annoyed Kim: she didn't like the bad guys getting away. Mercenary gave Kim a little wave as he boosted fifty feet upwards, away from the limo. Kim whipped out her hair dryer grappling gun and shot it at him. It was supposed to wrap around Mercenary, but it instead caught onto Barracuda's foot.

Kim was pulled up with Mercenary. He noticed the extra weight and growled with frustration. With his free hand, he pulled out one of the holstered pistols and shot a beam that cut Kim's rope. She gasped as she fell towards the street full of traffic. Kim managed to land gracefully, but she was forced to jump onto the sidewalk before she was hit by an oncoming truck. She gritted her teeth as she watched Mercenary carry Joe Barracuda to a rooftop.

Just before Kim could follow Mercenary, she noticed that his silver jet flew down near the street, toward her. There was no one in the pilot seat! How could it be flying on its own? Well, Kim didn't have time for distractions; she had to get to Mercenary before he did something to Joe Barracuda. She readied herself as the jet got closer and closer; it was going to hit her. Kim took a deep breath and grunted as she jumped on top of the jet's hull.

"Wade," Kim said as she pulled out the Kimmunicator, "I think this jet is remote controlled, can you hack into it?"

"Not for long, I see that the jet has an automated hacker block!"

"How long to I have?" she asked.

"About thirty seconds; use the Kimmunicator as the remote; you'll have minimal steering time."

Thirty seconds was all Kim needed. She held on tightly as she pressed the left and right buttons on her Kimmunicator, controlling the jet's direction of flight. Kim glanced back and looked at the rooftop that Mercenary was standing. She could see that he wasn't going anything to Barracuda. That was odd, she thought. Anyway, Kim made the jet do a sharp u-turn and head straight for the rooftop. When she was close enough, Kim jumped off the jet and landed on the rooftop, not startling Mercenary at all. The jet regained control and flew away. Standing in a heroic stance, Kim yelled, "It's over, Mercenary!"

He turned around. Kim then saw that Joe was simply cowering by him, not injured at all. The guy wasn't even tied up. What, was Mercenary waiting for Kim to arrive so that he could fight her? No, Mercenary didn't work like that. "What did you do to him?" Kim asked in a very loud voice.

"He had some information I wanted, that's all."

"What kind of information?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? Sorry, Kim, you won't get anything out of me unless I want to tell you. You know, we actually made a pretty good team last time…"

"Oh, I _know_ you're not asking me to join you!"

"Suit yourself. I have what I came for."

Ron had somehow snuck onto the rooftop as well, and he made sure not to alert Mercenary. Kim spotted him, though. She put up her fists at the masked hunter, ready for a fight. Mercenary groaned, "Oh, _another_ duel? You're beginning to bore me, Kim." The teen heroine was somewhat confused by Mercenary's remark: it was like he _didn't_ want to fight her. Or it could just be mind games – Mercenary was good at that.

Kim's best friend slowly pulled out his grappling gun and aimed at Mercenary. Joe Barracuda whimpered as he watched Mercenary's cold complexion not move an inch. The crime lord was eager to get away from the killer, stepping near the edge of the building. Ron stepped quietly closer, holding his breath. Kim kept her eyes fixed on Mercenary, so as not to give away Ron's position.

A small blip appeared in the corner of Mercenary's heads up display, located inside his helmet. It alerted him that someone was about to attack him from behind. Mercenary grinned under the helmet and snorted, still disappointed in Ron. The sidekick fired the grapple, but Mercenary sidestepped to the right, making Ron's grapple hit Joe Barracuda square in the face and knocking him over the edge.

Kim gasped and dived after him. Mercenary turned around and looked at Ron, who smiled nervously. He was so dead. However, Mercenary didn't attack or anything; he just uttered a couple words at Ron, "Nice one, Freckles." After which, Mercenary's jetpack carried him off the rooftop abruptly, and the hunter grabbed his jet, which flew overhead at that moment.

Ron Stoppable ran back down the stairs to the ground floor. He learned that Kim had saved Barracuda from becoming street pizza, but the man had fainted from fear of hitting the pavement. Kim brushed herself off as Ron ran up to her. "What was that all about?" she asked her sidekick.

"I don't know," Ron replied without a clue, "maybe Joe really didn't have a price on his head."

"Why would Mercenary want to probe Joe Barracuda for information? What did he profit from all this?"

Ron rubbed the back of his head and answered Kim, "Um, maybe seeing your belly button again?"

Kim rolled her eyes at him, "Very funny."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Whenever Kim and Ron needed to go somewhere for any reason, Bueno Nacho was the place. The environment was pleasant, the food was decent (by one's definition), and it was relatively quiet. Ron just loved this "Mexican" food. And if one were to lose him in a hide-and-seek-type game, he would most likely end up here.

It had been a little over two weeks since Mercenary's last strike, so suffice to say that Kim wasn't exactly pleased that he had returned. "Any luck, Wade?" she asked him over the Kimmunicator. "I'm checking all listings of bounties within Mercenary's price range," Wade replied, "So far, nothing. It could be a private bounty, but you never know."

"Well, see what else you can dig up. I'm really concerned." Kim sighed and Wade disappeared off the Kimmunicator's screen. She looked up at Ron, who was stuffing his face with nacho chips. Rufus dived into the bowl of them, squeaking "cheese" repeatedly. Kim smiled and almost rolled her eyes: Ron and Rufus, what a pair.

Just then, Monique walked in and smiled at Kim. The redhead invited her over to the booth, and Monique complied. As she sat down, Monique performed her usual critique of Kim's outfit. Kim wore a dark blue short sleeved shirt and brown cargo pants. Monique winked, "Nice outfit, girl!" Kim nodded and complimented Monique's attire as well: a light green top and a dark green skirt.

"So, what's new?" Kim asked.

"Oh, job at Club Banana's getting rough, but other than that, I. A. G."

"'I. A. G.'?"

"It's all good."

Kim realized that Monique had, again, made another acronym. Monique then inquired how Kim was doing, while Ron was practically oblivious to the whole conversation because of his newly prepared nacos.

"Well, this Mercenary guy is back. He was a problem last time, and I can't figure out what he's up to."

"Um, Kim," Monique said, "I'm not really current on the whole missions-outside-of-school thing, so could we keep this to something I actually _know_ about?"

"Sure. So, you seem over Nate."

There was a sudden silence in the universe. Ron stopped eating, recognizing that Kim's innocent question just touched a nerve. Kim gasped when she recognized this too. She had unwittingly entered uncharted and dangerous territory. True, Kim hadn't spoke to Monique about the break up before, but now wasn't the best time.

Monique's expression had gone completely sour. Kim _knew_ better than to go there. Her relationship with Nathan was personal, and Kim had no right saying something like that. If Kim didn't apologize in the next five seconds, Monique was going to reach across the booth and slap her.

"Sorry, sorry!" Kim said nervously, wishing she hadn't unconsciously mentioned Nathan, "I blurted it out! I shouldn't have said anything! Monique, please! I'm sorry! I really am!"

Monique's expression softened up a little. Kim was lucky. "Please, Kim," Monique said, her voice croaking, "I… don't want to talk about it." She got up, fixed her hair with one hand, and walked out the door. Ron turned to Kim.

"KP, what were you thinking?"

"Sorry! It just came out! I wasn't thinking!" Kim sunk deep into the booth and covered her head with her arms, not wanting to be seen. It wasn't like Kim didn't have reason to ask Monique about Nathan. Kim never knew why Monique and Nathan broke up, and Monique certainly wasn't going to tell her.

"I just wish I knew _why_ they broke up," she said in a soft voice. "I mean, is it something Nathan did, or did he dump Monique? They seemed so happy. I just don't get it. What was it that tore them apart?"

Ron shrugged, "I'm not much of the relationship dude, KP. Don't ask _me_ for advice or whatever on boyfriend-girlfriend stuff. Nacos, however, I am familiar with. You may ask away on that subject."

Kim forced a smile, but inside she felt terrible.

---

Hours later, Kim was in her house, going through some old stuff. Ron and Rufus were watching "The Fearless Ferret" on TV. Ron shed a tear, remembering the good old days with Timothy Norton and Wonder Weasel. Those sure were the days. Meanwhile, Kim was doing a little bit of reminiscing when she came across an old photo album.

There were pictures of just about everything in there: Kim and her Nana, the first days of living with the Tweebs, Kim's first bicycle, when Kim got her braces, and a whole bunch of other goodness. Kim smiled when she turned each page. It was always a pleasure to recall some of the days when fighting bad guys like Drakken didn't matter.

Then Kim came across a really weird picture. It wasn't weird in the sense of bizarre, but weird in the sense that it was just odd. This picture didn't make Kim smile; it was too weird to do that. She glanced at the snapshot of when she attended a brief summer camp. It wasn't like when Ron went to Camp Wannaweep: this camp was much shorter than that.

Ron noticed that Kim had suddenly stopped laughing from the pictures and turned around. "What is it, Kim?" he asked in a concerned voice. Surely, a photograph would not freak her out, would it? Ron got up, hit "mute" on the TV remote, and walked over to Kim. He sat down beside her.

Kim looked at him and pointed to the picture. Ron's eyes shot wide open, "No way! Is that who I think it is?" Kim was pointing to a much younger Nathan. He was in the same picture with Kim, as part of a group shot, probably one that covered every member of the camp.

"I didn't know you knew Nate before!" Ron said, startled.

"I didn't either," Kim replied.

"Hey," Ron said in an outraged tone, "since when did you ever attend a summer camp?"

"It was a long time ago, but the camp didn't last as long as you and Camp Wannaweep…"

"Worst summer of my life."

"…but I do remember meeting a boy named Nathan. That is so weird."

Ron leaned in closer to the picture, "Are you sure that's him?"

"Not entirely. At the camp, his last name wasn't 'Porter,' that's for sure. I don't remember what his name was back then, anyway. But I do recall him being happier than he is now."

"What do you mean, 'happier'?"

"I don't know," Kim shrugged, "friendlier and more outgoing, I guess. He wasn't so isolated. I wonder what happened to him."

"Did you spend a long time with him?"

"No, not really. I mean, we engaged in some camp activities, but we never really got to know each other. He's really nothing more than an acquaintance."

Ron sat back and petted Rufus on the head, "Huh. Well, you learn something new everyday." Then Ron got up and walked away, leaving Kim alone with the scrapbook. She looked back at the picture, studying it intensely. Her fingers ran over the face of Nathan many times. What _happened_ to him? Why had he changed?

Kim thought she understood why she was drawn to him. She had a deep feeling for him rooted in her. It was feeling not only of pity, but also of compassion. Even when she met him again at school, she subconsciously knew that he wasn't a happy person. He was once her friend at that camp, and now he had become unsociable. But there was more to it than that, Kim thought. Nathan was unlovable too.

Kim looked out the window and pondered many things. She now had a resolve to save Nathan, in a sense of the word. She didn't know why she wanted to save him, but she just had to. There was something deeper to all of these feelings: something more than just compassion. Kim had to bring him back to the light, somehow. No one deserves to be miserable, Kim thought.

This teen heroine had saved many lives in the past. She had saved them from erupting volcanoes, landslides, and hurricanes. She had rescued them from the evil clutches of super villains. She saved lives, yes, but could she save a soul?

---

Mercenary's silver jet flew straight at a waterfall. It went right through it into a hidden hanger bay. The jet slowly came to a halt, and the hatchway to the cockpit sprang open. Mercenary hopped out. He stretched a little bit and walked towards a door. It opened when he came in proximity.

The hunter found himself looking into a mirror. He sighed and gazed coldly at his own eyes, almost in self loathing. Mercenary exhaled before he reached to the back of his helmet and pressed some kind of switch that made it come off his head. He looked in the mirror at the man behind the mask. "Another day," Nathan said to his reflection.

He chuckled to himself and turned around, exiting the room. When he entered the main control room, a large monitor suddenly turned on. A beautiful female face appeared on the screen, her complexion composed like the Aurora Borealis. Her face was shaped like a human's, but the material was pure pixilation. "Welcome back, Nathan," it said in an elegant and eloquent British accent, "I trust everything went smoothly."

"As usual, Sara," Nathan replied. He set his helmet down on a table and started to take off his suit. "Barracuda's clean, anyway. He didn't know anything. I used my tactics. We'll have to try another lead."

"You could start small."

"Like you suggested earlier? Trust me, Sara… you're just a computer program. You don't have the experience that I do."

"Fine, but you know that you'll take my advice eventually. You always do."

He turned back and smirked at the monitor, "That's only because you get your information from places I tell you to search out, remember?"

"Oh, right. I'm nothing more than a lowly secretary; I forgot. No wonder everybody loves you. Those social skills of yours are amazing."

"Attachments are dangerous, Sara. You know that. I can't afford to get involved with anybody."

Sara raised her 'eyebrow,' "Oh, so what was the deal with Monique?"

"We both know why that ended, and I'd prefer if we didn't talk about that." Nathan put on a fuzzy red sweater and jeans, "I have to go to school."

As he slung his black and red backpack on his shoulder, Sara couldn't help put ask one more question while he walked out the door, "So, Nathan, who is she?" He didn't turn around, but he still replied, "What?"

Sara smiled onscreen and responded kindly, "The girl you like, who is she?"

Nathan ignored her and continued walking.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Middleton High School's sign often displays something current that relates to life at or around the campus of the school. It can be anything: from what's hot on the cafeteria menu to when the next cheer squad meet is. In this particular case, the sign displayed the words, "Beware of EVIL Chemicals." Obviously, the chemicals weren't literally evil, but the beware-part was necessary, all the same.

As it just so happened, Kim had a chemistry class when she noticed the sign. No, it wasn't enough to make Kim's weirdar go to alert. Inside the classroom, the students weren't surprised that their normal chemistry teacher was sick, probably from the evil chemicals, and was now being filled in by Mr. Barkin. He was a tall and sturdy man, with brown hair and a big chin to go with a deep and drill-sergeant voice.

"Because your regular chemistry teacher is not present today, I will be taking his place and teaching you about the fundamentals about chemistry, otherwise known as the study of how this wonderful world works on a molecular level."

A boy raised his hand and said, "I thought chemistry was the study of reactions."

Barkin's eyes flared and he stomped his foot, "ARE YOU MOCKING ME? That's three hours of detention, buster! SIT DOWN!"

The boy whimpered and cowered beneath his desk. "Now," Barkin continued with a monotone-like voice, "if there are no more questions… what is it, Stoppable?"

"Um, if every teacher showed up to school, what would you do?"

The substitute teacher chose not to answer that out of serious restraint. If this were at boot camp, Stoppable would be flattened like a pancake for making that comment. Luckily, the kid was still in school, so Barkin couldn't really physically harm him… much.

"Okay. For the agenda today, I'm going to read off a list of names. When you hear yours, listen closely, for your partners' name will follow your own. Any questions? Stoppable, put your hand down."

Ron reluctantly lowered his left hand, and Mr. Barkin pulled out a small notepad from his jacket pocket. He made some small circles on the pad, mostly around names. "Matthew Adams, you're with Brick Flagg; Lou Stevens, you're with Bonnie Rockwaller; Helen Finity, you're with Nick Hornacek; Stoppable--"

"Dibs on Monique!" he cried out, grabbing her. Kim and Monique both looked at him in a slightly confused way. Monique and Kim were usually partners. Now, Kim's weirdar was definitely going off.

Barkin sighed, "I'm not even going to argue. Fine, Stoppable. Mary Shelley, you're with Robert Dylan; Josh Mankey, you're with Christopher Cross; Kim Possible, you're with Nathan Porter; Larry Beal, you're with Elaine Benes; Hector, you're with…"

Kim was wide-eyed. Not only was she one of the only _last_ names mentioned, but she had just been paired with Nate! What kind of cruel, twisted world was this? Ron gave Kim a small nudge and asked her, "Are you going to ask him?"

Kim looked at Ron. Did he mean… on a date? "Uh… what?" Kim replied, confused.

Ron cleared his throat and whispered, "Are you going to ask Nate about the camp and last name thing?"

Kim raised an eyebrow, "Probably not. Why do you care?"

Ron just smiled and winked, "I don't." He was _so_ lying.

Then Kim felt someone tap her shoulder. It was Nathan. "Do you think we should begin? Maybe? Yeah, that might be a good idea," he said.

Kim looked around and saw that most of her classmates had already begun working on the assignment, and she groaned at Nathan's comment of sarcasm. "Okay, so what do we have to do?"

"Mix Chemical A with Chemical B?" Nathan shrugged and Kim looked at him. He might not know what he's doing, she thought. The assignment had to be more than just a simple mixing experiment, right? Kim grabbed a Bunsen burner – a common device for heating used in chemistry – and lit it. This was to prepare the chemicals for boiling.

"Possible, what are you doing?" Mr. Barkin asked as he walked over to the two of them.

Kim looked at him and responded with, "Preparing the two chemicals for boiling, Mr. Barkin."

The big man folded his arms and scowled, "The assignment was to mix the two chemicals together. Were you not paying attention?" Kim blushed and lowered her eyes.

"Sorry, Mr. Barkin, it's my fault," Nathan said. "I told Kim we could get some extra credit if we boiled the chemicals first."

"Well, in that case, Porter, I'll take points off _your_ grade instead of Possible's!" And with that, Mr. Barkin stomped away grumbling to himself, "I'll never understand teenagers."

Kim lifted her head up and stared at him. She noticed his features really well this time. Nathan had a cowlick on the right side of his forehead that made his hair look rather odd. She remembered when Monique said that his hair was 'a little whacked up.' Still, it gave Nathan an unusual quality that Kim couldn't put her finger on.

His skin seemed somewhat dry and rough, just from the sight of it. Nathan's face might have been slightly round, but his chin had a chiseled feature to it. His eyes were dark blue, and inside those eyes, there seemed a sense of distress. "Why did you do that?" Kim finally asked. "Why did you stick up for me?"

"Eh. You seem like the person that really cares about grades: the overachiever type, I guess. I didn't want one stupid mistake to cost you a grade letter."

Nathan studied Kim's face as well. He noticed that she had been evaluating his countenance and was subconsciously flattered by the gesture. Most of girls didn't think he was hottie-material, so it was nice that one of them looked at him and smiled. Nathan then shook his head of such thoughts: there would be no way that a really pretty girl like that would _ever_ be interested in him. He had too many flaws. Still, why was Kim looking at him like that? It definitely wasn't an infatuation.

He noticed that Kim was a little jittery, which was pretty obvious to anyone that cared to look. She was giggling a lot and fluttering her eyes slightly, as if embarrassed around him. Nathan thought that maybe all of this was just Kim's way of being nice or friendly. It couldn't mean anything else, could it? Why would Kim even be… no, it's better not to even go there.

Kim was having similar thoughts as well. She mostly questioned why she couldn't control her emotions: she was unwittingly giving Nathan hints that she liked him. This was a bad move, wasn't it? Kim had talked to guys before, so why was this one so different? He wasn't a hottie like Josh Mankey. Theoretically, Kim shouldn't have had any problem when talking to or being around Nathan.

She looked around the classroom, hoping that seeing something realistic would snap her back to reality (and get her head back in the proper thought-process). Kim caught sight of Monique, who seemed to have been watching Nathan and her for the past few minutes, mostly when Kim made her little blunder in judgment. Monique was distinctly giving Kim the 'skunk eye,' showing Kim that she was not happy with Kim's behavior around her ex.

Kim gave Monique an apologetic expression, hoping not to upset her friend any more. Monique jerked her head away, almost as if she refused to look at Kim. Kim wanted to walk over and explain the situation to Monique, but there wasn't time. Nathan was tapping Kim on the shoulder again, "Um, could you stop daydreaming for a second? We need to focus to get this project done."

"Oh, right," Kim replied, uttering a small uncontrollable giggle afterwards. Nathan looked at her in bewilderment and raised an eyebrow. When Kim saw the eyebrow, she continued to giggle. Nathan remained confused. Girls are weird.

Kim Possible was suddenly burnt back to reality with a sharp feeling of pain in her palm. She had been holding the beaker of a blue chemical over the Bunsen burner the entire time she had been staring, thinking, and giggling. Needless to say, it was quite hot. Kim squeaked a little bit and dumped the bubbling liquid into the other beaker, which was full of a chalk white chemical.

Nathan's eyes shot wide open in utter shock, and he cried, "NOT ALL OF IT!" Kim looked at him and then back at the beaker: it was shaking violently. She slowly backed away, and the whole class was watching. The beaker exploded, covering Nathan with the liquid inside. He stood there twitching, "This… is… _really_… HOT!"

Kim blushed and backed away some more. She soon figured out that Nathan wasn't using the term "hot" to mean "attractive," but rather he meant that the liquid burned like hell. "I'll, um, go get some paper towels," Kim said sheepishly. She was so embarrassed.

Barkin walked up to Nathan and said, "This is why I told you to put the precise amount of liquid into beaker number two. Now, who should I take points away from, you or Possible?"

Nathan just stood there with a look of rage on his face. He shot a fierce look at Barkin and felt like raising a shaking finger to point at Kim. He decided against it, however. Nathan remained silent. Kim giggled nervously and hurried out the door of the classroom. Nathan twitched a few more times; the urge to scream was overwhelming.

"Great," Kim said to herself sarcastically, "should I ask him out now or later?"

Kim's feelings of humiliation and awkwardness were interrupted by a familiar beep. She remembered the cliché of "Saved by the bell" and thought it applied here. Kim pulled out the kimmunicator and said cheerfully, "What up, Wade?"

"I have a lead on where Mercenary is going to appear tonight."

"Good," Kim replied, smiling, "maybe now I can find out what he's up to."

Kim looked at Wade, who seemed to recognize that something was up besides the Mercenary-issue. Was it _that_ obvious that she had been in an awkward position two minutes ago? Wade looked bemused and smug. Kim glared at him and said, "Don't ask."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Ron," Kim asked pleadingly, "are you sure you don't want to come with?"

"Kim, need I remind you of the major wrestling extravaganza tonight?"

"You added the words, 'major' and 'extravaganza,' didn't you?"

Ron shrugged, "Okay, maybe 'major,' but 'extravaganza' was totally there! Besides, I'm sure you'll be fine: you've gone on missions without me before. And, I mean, we don't even know if Mercenary is doing anything."

"Ron, he yanked Joe Barracuda out of a limo. He's on to something."

"Something _bad_?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow. Kim groaned and waved goodbye. She quickly went into a bathroom at school and changed into her familiar mission clothes. Kim pulled out the kimmunicator, about to ask Wade for directions.

---

Mercenary scouted an area in front of a night club; his helmet was fitted with an automatic binoculars. He zoomed in, hoping to spot someone he recognized. Mercenary's stealthy act was interrupted by the redhead teen hero, Kim Possible. She walked up behind him.

"You think I can't _hear_ you back there?" he asked sourly. "I assume you've come to stop me; I mean, that's what goody-goodies like you do, right? They attack guys like me without a reason? Oh, right, you'll find something on me eventually."

Kim groaned with frustration, "Your sarcasm is hilarious. Maybe we don't have to fight, Mercenary. Just tell me one thing: what did you do to Joe Barracuda? I'm confused."

"Barracuda wasn't my target, Kim."

"Then who is?"

"I'd rather not say, but I'll be doing society a service by finding him. I'm after someone called the Jade Claw, a former drug-lord who has seemingly started up again."

Kim raised an eyebrow, "Drug lord? What kind of drug?"

"He ran an organization called 'The Slashers,' and they manufactured a mind-numbing toxin that has the street name: 'Death Drug.' They use death drugs to enslave people into their organization, which suspiciously looks like a cult more than anything else. Death drugs are the newest thing on the street, and anyone who tries it gets addicted almost immediately. After that, it's not long before they're brainwashed.

"Does my hunt sound legit enough for you now?" Mercenary continued, "I don't pick sides, Kim. I only go after what pays the most. You saw that when I turned on Drakken and helped you out."

Kim's arms were folded the entire time, "Hmm, your story is somewhat convincing. Maybe I should accompany you… just to be sure you're not lying. You have lied before, you know."

"True, but I honestly don't care if you tag along. Your approval won't stop me from hunting the Jade Claw. I only told you about this job because now we don't have to duke it out, which saves me a lot of _time_."

"So what are you doing now? You think the Jade Claw's in that night club?" Kim asked as she pointed to the neon-lit structure.

"No," Mercenary replied, "for one, the Jade Claw isn't exactly active, and he doesn't have an address listed, if you get my meaning. I'm guessing that someone in The Slashers knows where he is."

"Then, what's with the night club?"

"I thought I should start small. Perry Syte, one of this city's dealers, often frequents a casino… but not on every night of the week. I'm checking to see if he's here tonight."

Kim suddenly understood how Wade found a lead on Mercenary: this wasn't his first time around this night club and casino. She didn't say anything for a while, and Mercenary had to break the silence, "So… are you, like, coming? Or are you just going to stand there and stare at me?"

She looked sad for a second and said, "You're really miserable, aren't you?" Kim's voice was with compassion, and she saw that Mercenary was somewhat taken aback by the question. "Why do you have this life?" she asked kindly.

Mercenary grunted and turned around, ignoring her. Then, he flinched, "I just saw Syte enter the night club! C'mon, we don't have much time."

"I'm not letting you kill anybody!" she shouted as she jumped down with him. They landed right outside the club's entrance, startling a view of the bystanders. "Sara," Mercenary said, "I need this building's schematics right now."

Kim arms were akimbo after hearing that, "Who's Sara?"

Mercenary turned around, "My wife."

Kim's eyes shot wide open in shock. Mercenary chuckled, "Just kidding, she's actually a computer program that gives me the information on anything I ask for. Her 'sparkling' personality was a bonus." Then, Mercenary looked away and nodded several times, receiving information from Sara.

"Okay, let's go," he said to Kim with determination.

"Wait, we're just going to barge in there? Doesn't this Perry Syte guy have any bodyguards?"

"Mm-hmm, he has a local gang for protection, but that's the fun part! No, Kim, I'm not going to go in there waving my blasters."

Kim rolled her eyes and walked through the doors with him. The place was brightly lit and had a haunting motif of purple. There was loud music booming in the background as well, but it suddenly ceased as soon as Mercenary entered. Kim sighed.

There were whispers throughout the room, chattering about Mercenary. Sounds of fear and hate could be heard in the corners of the club. All eyes were on the two. Mercenary approached a circular bar in the middle of the room. The bartender gulped, "Want a drink?"

"I'm looking for someone." Mercenary's raspy, cold voice cut the silence bitterly. It sent chills down one's spine just to hear that voice of death. Yes, people knew of Mercenary's reputation here.

"You came to the right place," the bartender responded weakly.

"A low-life death drug dealer, just came in here."

"Well, a lot of people come through here, friend."

"Listen, _friend_," he said callously, pulling out a pistol and pointing it at the bartender's head, "I'm giving you a chance to save your club."

Kim couldn't believe her eyes! She thought she told him 'no killing'! What the heck was this!

"Don't shoot! I'm just the bartender! I don't want any trouble; I'm just trying to run a clean place, y'know?"

"Fine," the hunter coarsely growled, "Now, where is he?"

"H-He took a lift up to the casino," the bartender said at last.

"Call it down!" Mercenary retorted in a loud voice, making everyone in the room cower except Kim. She was slightly startled, though.

"Okay, okay, I'll call it down. Hold on."

Mercenary looked at a dumbfounded Kim. Her mouth was hanging open. Mercenary had to wave at her to get her to start functioning again. He gestured toward the elevator at the back of the club, and Kim nodded as the two walked towards it.

"Think you were a _little_ harsh back there?" Kim asked.

"Meh, it gets the job done. It helps if you've got a reputation for killing people."

"You know you have to stop that."

"I do?" Mercenary asked sarcastically, pretending to be naïve. He pressed the button and the elevator's door opened. He made a 'ladies first' gesture, making Kim smile. She walked in, but Mercenary didn't join her. Before Kim could react, Mercenary had got the door to close and sent her up to the casino's floor.

Kim groaned, "Oh, great!"

She pressed the button to stop, but nothing happened. Mercenary must have jammed it somehow. Now was one of those times she wished Ron was here: she could use the backup. Kim soon felt the elevator slow down as it reached its destination, and she prepped herself for a fight.

The door opened and five people turned around. One of them was Perry Syte; the others were supposedly his henchmen. "Who the…?" Syte cried, "It's that teen hero – Kim Possible! Get her!" The four lackeys pulled out handguns and aimed. Kim crouched down, readying herself to jump. Syte backed up against the window.

When her enemies started firing, Kim leapt into the air, almost hitting the ceiling. On her way down, she thrust a foot into a guard's face. The others turned to her and fired some more. She flipped out of the way and continued with a flipping maneuver as a means of evasion. Kim didn't want to get shot, after all.

Perry Syte was trembling. Why did Kim Possible come for him? Oh well, better kill her before you find out the hard way. Mercenary, meanwhile, was flying up the side of the building. He had apparently exited the night club and decided to ascend in a way that was more comfortable to him. When he reached Syte's floor, he smirked at the sight of Kim fighting off the goons.

There was an explosion behind Syte, creating a gaping hole in the wall and shattering glass everywhere. Syte shrieked when he glanced over his shoulder. Mercenary shot his whipcord around the dealer and rocketed upwards, toward the roof. Kim made some grumbling noises as she watched Mercenary do that. The perfect gentleman? So not!

Mercenary threw Perry Syte, who was still tied up, on the roof. He then pointed his pistol at Syte's nose, and then spun it. "Who do you work for?"

"What!" Syte objected, "I ain't tellin' you nuthin'!"

Mercenary growled in frustration. "You're not worth my time dead _or_ alive, punk. I'm after someone else. TALK! Or I'll kill you right here."

Syte started whimpering, "Okay, okay! I work for Paul Lution; he's a smuggler for The Slashers."

Kim kicked the last bodyguard in the gut before he fell out cold. She exhaled as she looked around the room, wondering if there was anyone left to challenge her. Then, she remembered that Mercenary yanked Perry Syte out of the small-roomed casino and left her to be the distraction.

She ran to the window, stuck her head out, and looked up. A few moments later, she heard a cry as Perry Syte was thrown over the side. He was still tied up and screaming like a little girl. Kim caught him before he fell past her floor, grunting as she did so. She looked at the sky, seeing Mercenary fly away and leave her to clean up the mess.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Kim Possible got the kimmunicator out of her pocket, "Wade, I need a quick scan for Mercenary's jet in my area. He went somewhere without me."

"What, are you two, like, on a date?"

"No! I'm following him to make sure he doesn't kill anyone!"

"Right, whatever you say, Kim," Wade replied sheepishly, typing away at his computer, "I got a link! He headed for a large docking structure."

"'Headed'? You mean he's already there?"

"Afraid so."

Kim gasped and ran as fast as she could to the coordinates Wade had given her. The building wasn't that far away, but it's always quicker when one travels by plane rather than traveling by foot. She was obviously late and spotted several blast-marks made by Mercenary's jet: signs of major forced entry. He probably ambushed whoever he was after.

"Wade," Kim said as she climbed into the opening of the docking bay, "what is this place?"

"It's a smuggler's outpost, from what the _unofficial_ registration says. Looks like people were sneaking death drugs into the city."

"Who specifically?"

"The guy's name is Paul Lution," Wade replied, "he's a member of the—"

"Slashers," Kim finished.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Mercenary told me."

"Whoa! He actually _told_ you something? It _was_ a date, wasn't it?"

"Shut up!" she said, her face becoming red with embarrassment. Kim walked through the loading area, which was covered in smoke. She could hardly see anything. The area was quiet, though, so Kim guessed that she had arrived too late. Mercenary had to have gotten what he wanted and left.

Kim then followed the path of dead henchmen until she came across a corpse, hanging from the ceiling, burnt to a crisp. Mercenary's work, no doubt: probably from his flamethrower. "I think I just found Paul Lution," Kim told Wade.

"Well, what did he say?"

"He's not in a position to speak right now… or ever again. He's kinda dead."

Wade's head dropped onscreen. "Sorry, Kim," he apologized, "I guess we were too late."

"Okay, Mercenary's after someone called the Jade Claw. What do you think he could have learned from smuggler Paul Lution?"

"Oh! The Jade Claw!" Wade exclaimed enthusiastically, as if it all clicked in his head, "I've heard of him! He's one _bad_ guy, Kim! Did you know that none of the Slashers' members have ever seen him? He totally stayed behind the scenes!"

"Well, then how would Mercenary find him?"

"That's the weird part: I don't think he can. But he is off to a good start, theoretically. Each member of The Slashers becomes more secret and isolated with each rising rank. Meaning, while everyone might know a death drug dealer, everyone knowing about the man behind the death drug factory is highly unlikely."

"So you think that Paul Lution knew someone higher up on the list, someone that could tell Mercenary where the Jade Claw is?"

"I'll get to work. Let me see if I can find any of Paul Lution's connections with The Slashers. It will take some time, though, The Slashers are everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I can't exactly Google their name. But you'll be the first to know if I find out anything."

"Please and thank you," she said with a smile. As the kimmunicator shut off, Kim sighed, "Oh, I have to get to cheer practice!"

---

"Go, Mad Dogs!" Kim cried exuberantly as she threw her arms up in the air. The cheer squad, which was all wearing matching uniforms purple and gold, imitated Kim as she led the girls through their cheer routine.

Bonnie, a fellow cheerleader with a brunette head, scoffed a little at Kim's captain-ness but nonetheless complied. Bonnie might have been jealous of Kim's position, but she was still a team player no matter how stuck up she seemed. So, Bonnie reluctantly gave Kim a quick boost to the top a classically constructed pyramid. When Kim landed on top, she cheered, "Yeah!"

The pyramid broke down layer by layer. And when each of the girls dismounted, they commenced to flip and perform several cartwheels to carry on the acrobatic maneuver. After all, cheerleading wasn't just about making a stellar pyramid, one had to stun the audience with spectacular gymnastics as well.

Kim clapped her hands together, "Great practice, team! I think we're finally starting to nail it!"

"Yeah, right," Bonnie replied sarcastically, "we do an awesome job and you think that we're just _starting_ to nail it? Kim, we nailed it: end of story. While you were out saving the world or whatever, we were busy practicing the impossible cheer you made up."

"Bonnie, you tried being cheer captain once, remember? I recall something where you couldn't handle it. Besides, the cheers I write aren't that tough, are they?"

"I'm just saying that you should care a little more about cheerleading. It takes a major commitment. If you can't balance your little save-the-world thing with this, you need to rethink your priorities."

"There are some things more important that cheer practice."

"Don't even go there! I can't believe you're saying stuff like this! How can you be the captain and not care?"

Kim growled with resentment, "I _do_ care, Bonnie. I have led this squad to state championships for three straight years now, so I think I can do the job."

Bonnie groaned and stormed off. The other girls shrugged and hurried off the locker-room. Kim sighed as she watched Bonnie leave the gymnasium. It didn't matter what Bonnie thought, Kim supposed. She turned around and walked out the other exit. As soon as she pushed the doors open, Kim caught sight of Nathan. He was taking books out of his locker.

Kim walked over to him; she was slightly anxious. Maybe now she could muster up the courage to ask him out… or at least tell him about their previous encounter. Nathan glanced around the small door of his locker, smirking as he saw Kim approach.

"Thanks for the paper towels," he said.

Kim immediately gasped and smacked herself in the head. She had forgotten that before she left to go after Mercenary, she had spilled chemical liquid-like material all over him! As soon as Wade told her about his lead, class ended in a few minutes. She didn't remember she had an errand to complete.

"I… am… so… sorry!" she replied apologetically, feeling terrible. "I totally forgot!"

"Eh, no biggie," Nathan said as he took out another book from his locker and stuffed it into his bag. "Did you ever complete the assignment for Mr. Ambrose's class? We had reading up to page two hundred, I think."

"Um, yeah. I did. Thanks. Um, so…"

There was a few seconds of awkward silence, but Nathan broke it by saying, "I saw your little cheerleading routine. You're a good cheerleader."

"You were actually watching?" Kim asked, blushing.

Nathan looked confused: why was she blushing? "Uh, sure. I like your outfit: very cheerleady."

Kim glanced down at her uniform for cheer practice. She spotted the exposed belly button. "Um, thanks… I guess."

Nathan waited for Kim to say something more; she seemed as if she had more to say. When he realized that she wasn't going to continue, he ended further awkward silence by picking up his book bag and saying, "Well, I have to run. See you later, Kim."

As Kim watched him walk away, she jolted forward and said, "Wait! Nathan!"

He turned around, a little surprised from the sudden volume increase in her voice (although it was only for a moment). "Yeah?"

"Do you remember me from anywhere?"

Nathan had a really bewildered look on his face, "That's a weird question to ask. No, I don't remember you from anywhere. Should I?"

"We… kind of… went to a summer camp together. It wasn't for long, but I remember you."

"I'd rather not dwell in the past," he said. Then, seeing Kim's sad eyes that hoped he would remember, Nathan thought for a minute. She was right! They _had_ gone to a summer camp together! His eyes suddenly widened and a small smile came upon his face, "Pigtails! Little red! I remember now!"

"I didn't have those nicknames at that camp. Did I have pigtails back then?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure. I do remember a little redheaded girl named Kim (or Kimmie) that was very nice to me. You… sure did _grow_. Wow! I haven't seen anybody else from that camp ever before." He stared at her chest.

Kim spoke softly, as if she was sad again, "I'm sorry we didn't spend that much time together."

"We were kids, Kim. Relax. I'm still jazzed that you remembered _me_!"

"I actually saw your face in a group shot of the camp. It was the cowlick."

Nathan glanced upwards at his forehead, "Yeah, this thing gets so annoying!"

"Nathan, you seemed happier when we were at that camp. I remember that you smiled all the time. Can I ask you what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you don't exactly smile now as much as you did then, for instance. I just want to know if something changed your life. You can tell me."

That same bewildered expression came across Nathan's face again, "Why do you care?"

"We're friends, right? Friends care about each other."

"But not like this, they don't. Kim, if you really want to know… let's just say that a lot has happened since the time we were at camp: life experiences and all that."

"If you've gone through some hard times, I can help you through them. I can _help_ you; you don't need to go around remembering all the bad things that happened in the past. We can make new, better experiences now."

"Why this sudden interest in me, Kim? As far as I can tell, I don't have any thing that you could possibly want." He looked at her pensively, waiting for a response. When she remained silent, Nathan said, "Did Monique put you up to this?"

Kim's eyes widened, "No! Absolutely not! I mean, why would she…? No, I definitely want to help you out of my own free will."

"Look, I know you and Monique are good friends, and I'm sorry about what happened between her and me. It couldn't be stopped, if you know what I mean. You can tell Monique that if she wants to see how I'm doing, she can come and ask me herself."

"But I… Monique didn't ask me to spy on you or anything!"

Nathan folded his arms, "So what am I then? Your new charity case? Believe me, Kim, I appreciate all the kindness, but you're wasting your time. I'm not a person you want to get to know, and I'm definitely not a person you want to get close to."

He turned around and walked away. Kim reached out to touch him, but he was too far away. She just stood there, reaching out but touching nothing. She watched him walk through the doors. And then, Kim was alone.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Kim Possible's home, Middleton.

The teenage redhead was supposed to meet Ron, who had seemingly arrived already. He was playing video games with Rufus in the living room: the console was hooked up to Kim's big screen TV. Ron was challenging Rufus in a game and, as usual, the naked mole rat was winning.

"Aw, man! Rufus! No way! How did you…? Aw, not again! No fair!"

"Having fun with Rufus again, Ron?" Kim said as she approached him.

"Hey, KP," he replied, eyes not moving away from the screen, "Y'know, I don't know how a naked mole rat can be smarter than a human being at video games, but it vexes me so! Urgh, darn it, Rufus! How did you do that? Stupid controller: never works when I want it to."

Kim was just about to ask him something when two brown haired boys, probably ten years old, flew into the room on a rocket skateboard. The word, "Hoo-sha," exited their lips, and though "Hoo-sha" wasn't exactly a legitimate whatever, these boys made it up. Kim growled at them, shouting, "You tweebs! Jim! Tim! I'm _trying_ to have a conversation here!"

"Are you kidding?" one of the twins asked, "Ron's been playing video games for hours. You just walked in. Therefore, all conversation dibs are taken away!" He then turned to his brother and asked, despite that the two were flying at a relatively fast speed, "Hicka-bicka-boo?"

This was another term that they made up. Little brother talk gets very confusing. Anyway, Kim needed to talk to Ron, and the tweebs interrupting did not make it easier. Kim back-flipped in front of the flying skateboard and she kicked open the front door. And, with a gasp, the tweebs flew out into the night, though at a relatively fast speed.

Kim shook her head and muttered distastefully, "Tweebs."

She looked at Ron; he was intensely focused on the video game. Kim wasn't sure, but she thought she saw drool. Oh well, that was Ron. She wondered if this was a good time, or if _any_ time was a good time, to talk about Nathan. The guy seemed to stir up trouble whenever he was mentioned.

"Ron, can we talk?" Kim asked softly as she unplugged the television.

"Whoa! You just turned off the game! Oh, this better be good, KP. You know how Rufus is with his game-time."

"It is, Ron," she said. There was a brief pause, and Ron could tell that Kim was searching for the right words. In her mind, Kim knew there wasn't any easy way to say this. So, she took the plunge. "I'm thinking if I should maybe ask Nathan out."

Ron's eyes bulged, "Whoa! Rewind! What was that?"

"I think I should ask Nathan out."

"Since when are you interested in Nate?" he asked. Then, Ron looked at the ceiling, remembering how Kim stared at Nathan at the Chinese Restaurant. Okay, so that's since when. "Kim," Ron went on, "going out with your best friend's ex is dangerous territory."

"So, should I check with Monique first?"

"Personally, I think you should stay away from Nate. He's too isolated."

"Maybe someone should get close to him, kinda the meaning of 'isolated,' Ron."

"I'm just saying… he and Monique broke up, the reason can't be good. If Monique and Nathan didn't work out…"

Kim stared, waiting for him to finish, "What?"

"…well, sure, you've dated boys before, but your relationships don't always work out. I'm sorry, Kim, but that's the truth."

"So you have a problem with me dating Nathan?"

"Um, yeah! He's gone to Middleton for, like, three weeks! You don't even _know_ the guy!"

"But I knew him before, at that camp."

"That was a long time ago, KP. Things have probably changed since then. Did he remember you?"

"No. Not right away, but once I reminded him, he did."

"Kim, I don't know what you're after, but he's _not_ the one for you. I can tell that just by looking at him. Seriously, stay away from him. Maybe he deserves to be lonely."

At the sound of this, Kim's eyes flared, "I can NOT believe you just said that! WHY DO YOU THINK YOU'RE SO MUCH BETTER THAN HIM?"

"Because I have friends."

"NOT FOR LONG, YOU WON'T, IF YOU KEEP UP THAT ATTITUDE! Maybe Nathan needs a friend… or something more."

"Then let somebody _else_ be his 'something more.' Trust me, Kim, you don't need the stress. He's bad news. It didn't work out with Monique, what's makes you think…?"

"I see some good in him! He wasn't always so unhappy!"

Ron sighed, "I know that you're used to saving people, but this guy is a lost cause. Don't get involved with him; nothing good can come out of it."

"I thought you would understand," she said bitterly.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt, Kim, that's all."

Kim groaned, almost coming to tears, as she stormed out of her own house. Now was her 'cooling off' period. She had gotten in fights with Ron before, and all she needed now was some time to get things straight, before she did something she would regret.

"I still can't believe Ron said those things!" she said to herself, pacing back and forth, "That's so not like him! Well, it is, but it isn't. Sure, I can see that he doesn't want me to get hurt like Monique, but all I want to do is help Nathan. Why did Ron say that Nathan deserves to be lonely? No one _deserves_ that, right? He is a good person inside; I just have to draw it out."

As Kim wiped the sweat from her forehead, the kimmunicator's beep sound went off. Kim pulled it out, sighed, and said, "What up, Wade?"

"Um… are you okay?"

"Is this good news?"

Then, realizing not to go further into his question, Wade said, "You bet! There's some serious Slasher activity happening around the Mandarin Jungle. And get this: Mercenary's jet has been seen flying around there."

Kim sighed, closed her eyes, and reluctantly responded, "I'll get Ron."

---

A motorcycle with a sidecar rode steadily along a path outside the jungle. Steering the vehicle was a middle-aged British man. Kim sat behind him on the cycle, and Ron and Rufus were scrunched in the side car. "Thanks for the lift, Ambassador Greens," Kim said with a smile.

"Oh, think nothing of it, Ms. Possible. It is, after all, the least I can do after you stopped the tea-set heist from becoming an international incident."

"No big," Kim replied, "anyone can run to a toy store and buy a quick replacement tea set. I'm just glad I was able to catch that crook as well."

"Rather nasty fellow, he was," the British motorist said with a chipper attitude.

"Oh yes," Ron added, "very nasty."

"Okay, this is our stop," Kim informed the driver. She and Ron disembarked the motorcycle and sidecar, and the ambassador gave a wave before speeding off. Thanks to Wade's infrared scan, Kim was able to locate Mercenary. He was at the top of a hill, scouting out the jungle.

Kim and Ron stealthily approached him. He turned his head a little bit and said, "You think I can't hear you back there?"

"Oh, man!" Ron exclaimed in a disappointed tone, "Why can't we actually surprise the bad guys for once?"

"Ron, Drakken's always surprised," said Kim.

"Oh, I thought he acted that way on purpose."

Mercenary stood up, "Kim, I don't remember giving you an invitation. Perhaps I should consider putting stealth technology on my jet. That way, your pal Wade won't be able to track me."

He looked at Ron and uttered grimly, as if he didn't want Ron to be here, "Hey, Freckles."

Kim took a step forward, saying, "This could go a lot smoother if you let me in on your plan."

"Yeah!" Ron cheered, adding to Kim's statement.

Mercenary slowly walked up to the two of them and pointed a finger at Ron's nose. "You're lucky I don't kill you. I'll allow you to tag along because you _might_ be useful. Unless you want a confrontation, you'll do as you're told."

"Well, we're not going away," Kim said, not threatened by Mercenary's remark. "What is this place anyway?"

"It belongs to a sickly man named Suboto, a major death drug supplier, as I just found out. I originally intended to go on this hunt alone, but if you want to help, Kim, I can think of a way."

"Wade can give you the schematics for the place."

"No thanks. I already have everything I need information-wise. This jungle is actually a small swamp-like island, with water directly under it. The jungle surrounds Suboto's compound, which is built into the side of a small mountain (to avoid detection).

"We can lower the body count," he continued, "if you help, Kim. If you can swim under the jungle and sneak in undercover, I won't have to worry about Suboto getting away."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll make my way across the jungle, attracting the attention of his guards. No one has ever made it through the jungle alive, though. I'm willing to challenge that legend. Suboto thus won't be alerted because the jungle is dangerous enough. Only once I break into the compound will he be informed.

"Once you're in, Kim, find a way from me to get in too. You'll be undercover, so no one will suspect you're helping me. The disguise and swim gear is in my jet."

He gestured to a hidden jet that was camouflaged. It suddenly became visible upon Mercenary's command. Ron and Rufus trotted up to it enthusiastically. "Cool! What do I do?" Ron asked.

"Freckles, you stay with the jet."

Ron groaned with disappointment.

"When I give you the signal," Mercenary went on, "you press the auto-pilot button. This will send my jet directly to my position, giving Kim and me a means of escape. In the meantime, though, make sure no one notices the jet. I can't be concerned with someone taking it."

Ron and Rufus both gave a salute, and Mercenary sighed. Kim was, meanwhile, putting on the scuba gear. Mercenary pointed to a lagoon on the east side of the jungle.

"Just one question," Kim asked before walking off. "How come you didn't feel a lot of the attacks I threw at you, y'know, before?"

"My suit makes me completely unaware of pain, thus I am able to function as a better hunter, thief, soldier, or whatever. If I were to fall five stories, I wouldn't even feel it. However, get enough force and my suit won't stop me from becoming unconscious. And even if I do get hurt, my suit has a reconstruction feature that heals me. Bruises, cuts, even illnesses are gone after a period of time. I can't afford to have my strength sapped by something as miniscule as pain."

Kim and Ron were listening intently. Then, realizing he was finished, Kim admitted that his rambling had indeed answered her question. She walked to the lagoon, waving.

"See you inside."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

With Kim going off to find a means for him to enter, Mercenary headed in the opposite direction. He entered the thicket of the jungle. Sara, his computer program assistant, was going to be with him every step of the way, not that he needed her. But he could use the company. Mercenary noticed that much of the area had been dyed green: the grass was unusually emerald, along with the trees and the rocks. Perhaps the Jade Claw was responsible.

Kim had just finished putting on the scuba gear provided by Mercenary. She still hadn't seen her disguise, which was tucked away in a little sack on her back. Kim strapped on the oxygen tank, breathed deeply, and dove into the lagoon. It turned out that Mercenary was right: there was a curious amount of space under the water. The rocks and ground that held up the jungle were just seemingly floating there. A tight but maneuverable area was visible under the foundations, so Kim swam quickly under it.

Mercenary was meanwhile occupied with maneuvering the land, which was more of a swamp than a jungle, surprisingly. It had jungle-like trees, but the ground was all wet. Perhaps the underground lake was finally submerging Suboto's compound.

He continued to move forward, catching a glimpse of one of Suboto's guards. Yes, although Suboto trusted the jungle to be a natural defense for him, he still posted some lackeys to make sure no one got through. Before the poor fool knew it, Mercenary had socked him out cold with a force-shield slice across the back of the head.

Suddenly, a tiger leapt out from behind a rock. It surprised Mercenary, because it had jade-colored fur and dark green stripes. This emerald motif was really getting annoying. The tiger should have mauled Mercenary into pieces, but the hunter's armor was too thick to penetrate with such simple claws. Mercenary, in turn, countered with an attack of his own: knocking the tiger back with his force-shields and then frying it with his flamethrower.

"Damn tiger," he muttered.

Kim moved through the water with respectable ease, expecting an obstacle or opponent every time she pressed forward. Mercenary's plan was genius, as long as no one surprised her down there. How could Suboto have let such an important flaw slip past him?

She found a bright light piercing into the water and swam toward it. Kim slowly poked her head through the water and into the air, trying to remain as quiet as possible. She reached onto a part of the surface and pulled herself through. When she glanced back, Kim saw that her entrance was quite small and unnoticeable.

It was time to go undercover, Kim thought. She undressed out of her scuba gear, dripping wet and standing there naked, and she grabbed the pack that held her disguise. Kim gasped when she opened it up. Mercenary must've _known_ she was coming! This had to be his revenge! Inside the pack was a green metallic bikini with spikes in the touchy areas. It was the type of dress that an exotic (or erotic) dancer would wear. Was this her disguise?

Kim groaned loudly as she looked at it from top to bottom. How degrading! She never thought that she would wear one of these things in her life! She would so get back at Mercenary for this. Come on, he can't be serious! Surely _he_ wasn't going to disguise himself as this, was he? The logic fit in Kim's mind: Mercenary knew she would come and find him, wanting to "help."

"You!" One of Suboto's guards yelled, spotting Kim, "Stop fooling around! The master will see you in five minutes!"

Kim yelped with embarrassment as she tried to cover all the naughty parts of her body. She had, after all, been standing naked when she realized what was in her pack. The guard simply shrugged and walked away: this reaction was typical for him.

And Kim couldn't help but wonder, what did the guard mean "the master will _see_ you"? Her question was answered when she noticed at least a dozen other girls that were dressed in the same outfit. They were clearly dancers, ready to put on a performance for Suboto. One of the girls noticed the naked redhead staring at them and shouted, "Get dressed! We have to be ready to go shortly!"

Kim gulped down the last word, "Shortly?"

Mercenary moved along the side of a small cliff. The green was really starting to irritate him now. He shot his whipcord up to the top of the cliff and let the reel yank him up too. He smoothly slipped onto the cliff flat surface, noticing several guards patrolling. They didn't notice him yet, but that didn't mean it wasn't time for action. Mercenary whipped out his twin pistols and started firing.

Suboto's guards dropped like flies; Mercenary's blasts met them in the face. Because Kim was such a nag, Mercenary had reluctantly set his blasters to "stun," leaving the henchmen unconscious after they were bombarded and overwhelmed by his blue beams. Nevertheless, Mercenary chuckled at their steaming bodies lying prone and defeated.

It was then that Mercenary came upon the guard's outpost: the entrance of which was shaped like Suboto's reptilian head. As Mercenary approached it, the entrance doors slid open with a creak, and Mercenary sighed, saying, "Great. _More_ jungle." He noted that it was odd, however, that this jungle housed waterfalls, green waterfalls. He groaned.

Kim quickly tied her hair into a bun and joined her fellow dancers. None of them looked enthusiastic about what they were about to do, but their expressions told Kim that their lives literally depended on it. If Suboto wasn't pleased, he would kill them. Kim straightened out the top part of her "bikini" and grunted because the bottom part was too tight. She would get Mercenary for this… somehow.

Her thought process was interrupted when loud music started playing. Doors opened and the girls moved forward, waving their arms and swinging their hips. Kim immediately surmised that they were entering Suboto's "throne room," and the smell of death drugs was fragrant in the air. Kim realized that she would stand out if she didn't join in, so she starting dancing as well, taking the time to multitask: while she danced, she would scope out the enemy.

When she caught sight of Suboto, Kim was disgusted. He had to be the ugliest person she ever saw. The man, if that's what he really was, resembled a lizard, with light green skin and a snout instead of a nose. Saliva formed at his lips and snot dripped from his nostrils: his entertainment had arrived. Suboto was hunched over to an extreme; one could see his spine bones protrude out of his back's skin. He looked very old and decrepit, features that made him even more revolting.

"Gasoline?" Mercenary muttered to himself as he approached a pond in the swamp. "The pond is made of gasoline? That would explain the bridge across. And it would explain why there aren't any guards around: the smell from this pond could make anyone pass out. Luckily, my helmet filters out the nasty air."

As soon as Mercenary placed one foot on the bridge, he jolted back, fearing that some kind of booby trap was set for him. However, nothing happened. He eased up on the fighting stance and relaxed his shoulders, walking casually on the bridge. But, when he reached the middle, a board on the bridge snapped (as if designed to) and a spark flew, igniting the whole pond into one big pyre. Mercenary cussed as he jumped as high as he could into the air. He boosted upward with his jetpack, avoiding the flames.

The good news: he was alive. The bad news: about three dozen guards were alerted. Oh yeah, this would be fun. Thirty six goons unloaded their machine guns upon the flying hunter. He was overwhelmed by the continuous shots and was pushed down hard into the pond. There was a splash and a burst as more flames rose higher into the sky, seemingly from a new element of fuel added to it.

One of the guards coughed. "Did we get him?"

"He's fried," a stout one replied.

Then, out of the flames, arose a figure. For a split second, his outfit was charcoal black, then it turned to silver. He had one arm raised, as if shielding himself from the light. The men gasped as they saw that he was covered with shiny metal blobs that had splattered upon his armor. The bullets had not pierced and killed Mercenary, nor had the fire. He brushed off the bullet-splats, put his hands together, and cracked his knuckles.

"Okay," he said, "now I'm mad."

Kim knew that if she wanted to blend in, she would have to play the part. As much as it pained her to do so, Kim disregarded all moral inhibitors and chastising thoughts. She was undercover, that's all that mattered. So, she moved her hips back and forth sensually, dancing along side the other girls. She moved her hand up and down her legs, wiping the sweat away erotically.

There were poles that reached the ceiling throughout the room, and Kim instinctively moved toward one. Like some of the other dancers, Kim slid up and down the pole, wrapping her leg around it, pretending to receive pleasure. As the pace of the music quickened, she moved her head more and more frantically. Sweat ran down her cheeks, both on her face and the other place. She pretended to have an orgasm, as she had seen some of the others do.

Kim slowly slid down to the ground and crawled along it, forcing herself to wink at Suboto, who wasn't even watching her. She changed her position into a squat and massaged her abdomen, but her hand slipped off because there was so much sweat. Her fingers moved along the spikes of her bikini, kneading them as she uttered moans that were barely audible. How much longer did she have to put on this act? Kim glanced around at the other girls. If they all didn't stop in two minutes, Kim would pass out. She had been dancing a long time.

Two other girls noticed that Kim was having some trouble and moved toward her. They picked her up, and one of them whispered into her ear, "Hold on. Not much longer." Then Suboto's men became anxious, worried that the girls would try to rebel again. As they cocked their machineguns, the two girls by Kim quickly starting rubbing her body, as if trying to pleasure her. The guards' suspicions went away, and they lowered their weapons.

Of the two, there was a brunette that Kim leaned on. The brunette pretended to kiss Kim's neck and feel her along Kim's chest. The music became louder and faster, and Kim's breath started to fall short: she couldn't go on much longer. The brunette then whispered to Kim, "Not much longer. You can do it. If you last, they won't kill you."

Kim looked at the brunette and whispered back, "I… I can't dance any more. My whole body aches. How do you move for so long?"

"If you can't dance," the brunette answered quietly, "just moan. Act like you're having an orgasm and they won't kill you! We _all_ have to pretend if we want to stay alive."

Kim nodded and complied: she started moaning. The girl that wasn't the brunette was going to pass out soon as well, so she moved down to Kim's leg and started kissing it. Rule number one in this business: if you can't move anymore, do something else. Standing still will get your head blown off. Kim remembered this as she moaned some more; her head was dripping with sweat. The strength to stand was leaving her: Kim was too tired.

The stout guard screamed as Mercenary socked him in the face. He was still near the pond-pyre, and he delivered a fierce head-butt to the screaming lackey, who was knocked out cold upon contact. Another henchman—one of larger stature—tried to grab Mercenary from behind. Mercenary just stood there as electricity shocked the big man off him. Mercenary elbowed the man hard, making him crouch and groan. The silver hunter grabbed the groaning enemy and flung him into the pond.

There were two guards left, and one of them was scared stiff. Mercenary looked at him, narrowing the eyes. The crony started to question his loyalty to Suboto at this point, but this hunter in front of him was still about to end his life. He raised his shaking hands that held his machine gun. Mercenary walked up to him. The guy quivered in fear and pulled the trigger.

Mercenary grabbed the machinegun's barrel and pulled the weapon away: the shots didn't hit him. Mercenary then whacked the scared man with the butt of the machinegun and, looking away, pointed the machinegun at its original owner and fired. Blood spilled upon the ground and the henchman of fear dropped to the ground without making a peep. Mercenary's work wasn't done yet: there was still one more guard.

The last attacker had used the time to have the element of surprise against Mercenary, but with no such luck. While the goon charged at him, Mercenary shot his whipcord. It wrapped around the assailant's waist, giving him a clear cut sign that this would not end well. Mercenary yanked the guard forward and punched him hard, and then Mercenary yanked him to the side, forcing him to "orbit" Mercenary until the hunter pressed the release button. With a shriek of pain and death, the guard was thrown into the flame-covered pond.

Looking around, Mercenary surmised that there were no more opponents, at least for now. He walked toward the mountainous border of Suboto's compound.

Though she was a cheerleader, dancing for this long nonstop had taken everything out of Kim. She hadn't trained for this, nor had she expected it. She felt herself slipping into unconsciousness, but the brunette held on to her and shook her, trying to wake Kim up and pretend to be sensual at the same time. The brunette realized she wasn't having any luck and pressed her lips hard against Kim's. The redhead teen hero was suddenly jolted awake: not only from the brunette's passionate kiss, but also from the other girl massaging Kim's groin.

Kim and the brunette started moving back and forth, occasionally glancing at Suboto or his guards. Kim prayed that the dancing wouldn't go on any longer because she was exhausted. In a mere moment, her prayer was answered. Suboto clapped his hands twice, and the music stopped. All of the girls dropped to the ground and started gasping for air, and Kim realized that she wasn't the only one that couldn't handle it. Even the brunette was breathing heavily, uttering small cries of pain with each breath.

"So…" Kim asked quietly, "Do… we… live?"

"Yeah," the brunette exhaled, "I… think… we… do…"

Kim was stretched out on her back, looking from girl to girl. They were all prone, some face down. Sobs could be heard, echoing throughout the room. Suboto stood up, still hunched over. The brunette whispered to Kim, "Pray he doesn't select you!"

"What happens if he does?"

"Nothing good, I can tell you that."

Suboto pointed at Kim. "You! Redhead!" he hissed, "You're new here! That was quite a performance you gave. I want you to come into my quarters."

Immediately, three of his guards grabbed Kim and pulled her along. She screamed, even though she was exhausted. "No! Let me go!"

"Wait," the brunette said, standing up, "it was her first day; leave her alone. Take me instead."

"You… again?" Suboto hissed sickly. "No, I will take the redhead as I wanted."

"But I know what you _like_," the brunette replied, winking at Suboto. He grinned, looked at Kim, and gestured that she be set free, "Let this young one go back to her room."

The guards shoved Kim to the right and she started walking with what strength she had. Kim then noticed Suboto open a door behind his throne, and the brunette that helped her staggered through it.

Kim was now sure that Suboto enforced a culture that was based on fear and intimidation. Every time a dancer saw an armed guard, she cowered, trembling in terror and covering her eyes. The guard didn't even acknowledge and simply walked on. It was clear that these girls had seen the guards kill people before, and they either were afraid or pretended to be. In most cases, it was the former.

She had, therefore, cowered when a henchman passed her in the hallway. After, Kim managed to catch up to another dancer, who was out of breath but still moving. The girl had dark black hair and skin, and she was obviously uncomfortable with her clothing. This Kim could relate to.

"Are you all really afraid of Suboto?" Kim asked softly.

"Are you kidding?" the dancer replied, "Of course we are! One time he shot a girl because she stopped dancing and another because she gasped afterward. He'll kill you without thinking twice. Based on what I saw of you out there, looks like you figured out a way to stay alive without moving."

"Yeah, but I still don't understand one thing. How did you girls get here?"

"Same way you did," the dark skinned female responded, "we tried a death drug, got addicted, and the next thing we knew: we were here. I'm not addicted to the death drugs anymore, but I know that I'll die here instead."

Kim was shocked at what she heard. Apparently, the girl didn't know that Kim was undercover; she suspected that Kim was a death drug addict like the others. The look in their eyes was frightening and depressing at the same time. Kim could see that these girls were convinced that they would never see their homes and families ever again. Besides, why would they want to? They had become addicted to a drug and turned their backs on society. Thankfully, Kim believed in second chances and was determined to set them all free.

Mercenary studied the area he was about to infiltrate. So far, Suboto was unaware of his presence, which was a very good thing. It meant that Kim was doing her job well. However, for his plan to be a complete success, Mercenary had to meet Kim somewhere so that they could attack the compound. He still hadn't reached the compound yet, so any shots fired wouldn't alert Suboto. It might surprise the lackeys, however, because no one had made it this far.

As he walked forward, Mercenary noted that the area turned from jungle to rock landscape. He could blend in a little better now because of the gray instead of green. There was a cliff up ahead – actually, it was more of a plateau. At the base of the plateau were about twenty men ready for action, though they hadn't noticed Mercenary. And at the edge of the plateau were two turrets, with goons behind each one.

A skinny lackey with sunglasses saw something that looked like a rock lopped over one of the boulders in front of him. When he suddenly realized its true nature, he cried, "Grenade!" All the others scattered, but the explosion claimed some of them. Out of the smoke flew Mercenary; he soared high into the air. The turret men fired at him, but he was ready. Mercenary pointed his right fist forward and unleashed a projectile.

It was a wrist rocket, guided by the heads-up-display in Mercenary's helmet. The rocket sped and hit directly behind one of the turrets, making the operator fly off the plateau. Mercenary boosted toward the plateau and kicked the turret, which was still firing. The turret whipped to the right and pointed at the other turret and the lackey that controlled it. The man was soon overwhelmed by the turret's blasts and flopped backwards, dead.

The smoke had finally cleared, and the henchmen below were ready with their guns. Mercenary grabbed hold of the turret he kicked. He aimed downwards and unloaded a barrage of blasts upon his enemies. Moving the handle from left to right, Mercenary cleared the base of all opponents. But then he heard a noise behind him: several more guards had arrived. Mercenary spun the turret around and jumped on top of it.

Together with the turret, Mercenary fired with his pistols and shot down every person that pointed a rifle or machinegun at him. The fighting was finally over when the area was dead quiet. Well, he had promised Kim that he would lower the body count, and this didn't count for much. Mercenary stepped over the bodies as he entered the main base of the mountain. He glanced around and saw where the lake intersected the mountain: Kim's focal point of entrance.

Kim Possible strength had returned to her by now, and she had her wind back. Thus, she was able to function properly (not having to worry about her head getting blown off). Well, the threat was still there, actually, but the guards assumed that Kim was afraid of them, so they didn't shoot her. Therefore, Kim was able to act as both someone who is undercover and a teen hero.

Her mission now was to find a way out of Suboto's compound and down to Mercenary. She didn't have any of her gadgets at the time, so to engage one of the guards in combat would not be the best decision. Stealth and cover were the keys. Kim evaluated that Suboto's compound was surprisingly high up this mountain: evidenced by the seemingly bottomless canyon outside the window. A waterfall ran down, and Kim could not see the bottom.

"Sara," Mercenary said, "I need to know where Kim is so I can rendezvous with her. Is she near the base?"

"No, she's not," Sara answered, her voice sounding clear inside Nathan's helmet. "From what I can see, though, she is trying to find a way down."

"But she's had ample time to do that already!"

"Well, she got a little… distracted."

"What do you mean, 'distracted'?"

"Nevermind," Sara sighed. "Wait! I think she just found a way down! No guards in the immediate area, so you're clear, Nathan. She's two hundred and twenty five yards northeast of you."

"Does she know where I am?" He asked.

Kim poked her head out from behind a boulder. She had managed to get down unseen, which was a good thing. She had noticed that several guards took some kind of a lift down, so Kim figured that was the obvious method for descent. Even after she arrived at the base, the place was not deserted. Guards were around, but not many.

Kim knew that she was relatively safe because she had seen guards drag some of the dancers into their huts. The thought of it disgusted and horrified her. Hopefully, the guards would not spot her and demand that she enter one of those dirty huts. This whole place was sick, Kim thought. There isn't a decent soul on the mountain. So much immorality was enough to make one hurl.

In the middle of Kim's thinking process, Mercenary surprised her. "Miss me?" he asked in an amusing tone. Kim, while at first startled, practically leaped and cheered at the sight of him. She jumped forward and embraced him, happy to see a friendly face for once. Then, realizing the awkwardness of her hugging him, Kim let go and backed away.

Mercenary looked her up and down, "Wow, you _really_ look good in that."

Kim could tell that he was smiling deviously under that helmet of his, and she groaned, "You! I can't believe you made me wear this! I've never been more humiliated in my entire life! I swear, I'll get you for this. Do you have any idea what I went through in there? Do you have a clue what I had to _do_?"

"Do you know what I had to go through to get that outfit?" Mercenary retorted.

Kim was about to scream: she was utterly furious. However, Mercenary eliminated any hostile feelings in Kim's mind when he produced a small sack. It was her mission clothes and her usual supply of gadgets. "I hope you had fun," he said, that raspy voice irritating Kim again.

She grumbled as she grabbed the sack. Mercenary turned around so that Kim could undress. "If you turn around and look," she said with a strong hint of warning in her voice, "I'll make you wish you were never born. You've already seen _more_ of me than any other boy. And I promise: you won't see the rest."

"Whatever," he answered in contempt. "Just hurry up. I don't have all day."

When Kim was finished, she tapped Mercenary on the shoulder, indicating that it was okay to turn around. "So," she said, "what's our next move?"

"Suboto has a death drug factory, probably underground. I need a way inside."

Kim pulled her gloves so that they were tighter on her hands, "I saw guards going up and down a lift. It leads to a lower part of the compound. The entrance to the factory might be near his throne room."

Mercenary nodded, "We'll head up to the palace the same way you came down."

She smirked and pointed in the direction of her arrival. Immediately, Kim and Mercenary started running toward a small alcove that was near the lift. About five of Suboto's men were standing around, talking to each other. Their conversations, however, were halted when a blast from Mercenary's pistol struck the tallest of them in the mouth. The other four cocked their machine guns, making loud noises when they saw Kim and Mercenary coming.

The goons didn't even ask questions: they started firing right away. Kim sprang into the air and flipped. She made an air kick into one man's face, and pushed herself off his face, letting him drop to the floor. A burly guard was just about to knock Kim out from behind, but Mercenary had shot his whipcord around the guy, tying him up and electrocuting him. That left two others. They both ran at Mercenary, who fried one with his flamethrower. He wasn't able to attack the other one.

The last henchman rammed his shoulder into Mercenary with great ferocity. The silver hunter was shoved back and to the ground. Just as he was about to finish Mercenary with a machinegun, the crook felt a sharp pain in his legs, so much so that it made him sink to his knees. He then felt someone's foot slam into his cheek and, after that, he felt no more. Kim stood over the man, brushing her hands off.

"Thanks, but I could've handled him," Mercenary said.

Kim smirked at him again, "Could've, would've, _didn't_."

"Hah, sarcasm: funny. Now, can we move on?"

"Fine by me," she replied, almost winking at him.

Mercenary got to his feet, and Kim led him to the lift that would take them up to Suboto. Or, at least, it would take them mostly up (not all the way). Still, Kim looked forward to seeing Suboto again: she owed him a good punch in the face. Kim looked at Mercenary and smiled, "That was some pretty good accuracy you had."

"Actually, my accuracy's terrible," he responded unemotionally. "I have one heck of a suit, you might say. See, my helmet gives me an _auto-aim feature_, so to speak. I wear lenses on my eyes, and when these are moved into a certain direction, the HUD outlines the target that I have spotted, and then it electromagnetically syncs up my pistol's barrel directly with the target. All I have to do is hold up the pistol and my suit points it (with perfect accuracy) at whatever I aim at."

Kim just stood there, blinking. It was a lot to take in: all this talk about auto-aiming and whatnot. For a second, she felt as clueless as Ron, who hardly understood anything. However, after processing what Mercenary said for a few seconds, Kim was able to put it into her own words: his suit makes his arm aim to where he's looking. She couldn't think of anything simpler than that, but the awkward silence between her and Mercenary at this time was very uncomfortable. Luckily, the lift had stopped.

As the doors of the lift opened, guards glanced at it, not sure of whom had just arrived. Their suspicions were answered when Mercenary burst out of the lift with guns blazing. He had apparently set his pistols to a repetitive fire (because he was simply holding the trigger and several blasts were coming out). Kim saw that his "auto-aim" feature was working quite well, as Mercenary was taking down every guard that charged him.

Kim wasn't left alone, however. Several of Suboto's henchmen had noticed and attacked her. All bets were off, Kim thought; there was no more need for stealth. In fact, it was better that Suboto _know_ that she was coming! Kim did not hold back at all; she jammed her fist into her assailant's stomach, making him gag and pass out. She would have been overwhelmed had the continuous shots of Mercenary not picked off the guards standing around or jumping at Kim. Mercenary wanted Kim alive, she noted.

There was an explosion and Mercenary was catapulted into the air, his arms flailing as he tried to grab something. When he regained his balance in midair, Mercenary activated his jetpack and began to hover. He then started to glance around to see if Kim was okay. She was, but now Mercenary became concerned with the origin of the explosion. Where did it come from? He looked up the wall and saw a fat goon holding a rocket launcher, standing on a balcony.

"I hate rocket launchers," Mercenary muttered quietly.

The fat guy straightened his weapon, preparing to fire again. Kim cried out to Mercenary, telling him to look out, but the silver hunter wasn't paying attention, or maybe he was. At the same instant that his opponent sent off a rocket, Mercenary thrust forward his right fist and fired a wrist rocket. Granted, it wasn't as large as the other guy's rocket, but it still would get the job done. Mercenary wasn't aiming for the fat henchman: he was aiming for the rocket, otherwise it would kill him.

When the two projectiles made contact, an explosion shook the room so fiercely that Kim and Mercenary were knocked off their feet. The heavy weighted guard was shoved off the balcony from the explosion and fell to the ground, making a splat. Kim grunted as she tried to stand, but she only got to her knees. As the smoke cleared, Kim started looking around frantically for Mercenary.

"Mercenary!" she called out. "Are you alright? Mercenary! Where are you?"

"Calm down, Kim," Mercenary said as he walked up to her, holding his arm in pain, "I'm okay. Chill out, you're going to make me think that you _care_ about me or something."

At the sound of this, Kim blushed. She turned away, trying to hide it. Anyway, Mercenary sighed, letting Kim know that it was time to move on. Kim complied, and the two made their way toward a flight of stairs that ascended up a wall. A hidden door was at the very top of these stairs. During their climb, Mercenary called out to Kim, who was ahead of him, "Where's Suboto's throne room?"

Kim looked back, answering, "Not far. We move down a hallway through this door, and then we'll be in the 'supreme dancing chamber.' That's where I was while you were strolling through the jungle."

"Hey," Mercenary replied indignantly, "it wasn't all fun and games. Well, most of it was."

"Oh yeah? My part was so tougher! You can't even compare! I had to dance for a very long time in a very uncomfortable outfit!"

"Well… there were man-slaying tigers in the jungle-swamp place."

Kim raised an eyebrow, "But I bet your armor saved you."

"It did. But, there were rocket launchers and turrets. You wouldn't have survived."

Kim rolled her eyes in response; Mercenary and his ego. They ran down the hallway without encountering any opposition, which was a surprise to both of them. Mercenary had his pistols drawn the entire time, and Kim was ready to grapple to the other side of the room as a means of evasion.

When Kim looked at Mercenary again, she noticed that he was in deep thought. Mercenary had a tendency to think up near-ingenious plans, at least in Kim's opinion. Still, it wouldn't hurt to know what he had in mind. Kim had nothing, so anything that Mercenary thought up would be a good idea right about now. "So, what's your plan?"

Mercenary's cold eyes glanced at her, then at the entrance to the throne room, "Suboto probably won't tell us the location of the Jade Claw; he's too powerful and too unafraid. My hope is that he'll lead us to his death drug factory, which could give us a clue. If there are any markings on the product or equipment, it gets me that much closer to my prey. Plus, if there's nothing in the factory, we can destroy it: Suboto would be devastated, making him more likely to spill information."

Kim nodded and returned her attention to the throne room itself. Next to Suboto's throne was a door, which the repulsive lizard-like man exited. Kim gasped as she saw the brunette exit with him, crawling on all fours and appearing to be exhausted. Suboto was chuckling to himself and the brunette was spitting like mad, but when Suboto looked at her, she immediately changed her expression of disgust to enjoyment. However, when Suboto smirked and looked away, the brunette started spitting silently again, wiping her mouth afterward every time.

One of Suboto's guards came up to him and said, "Master! We are under attack! That redhead dancer is not alone!"

"I will kill that whore!" Suboto hissed.

"But the intruder is Mercenary!"

"Mercenary!" Suboto suddenly became afraid, remembering Mercenary's reputation for ruthlessness. He said weakly, "I will kill him myself!"

"I'd like to see you try," said Mercenary as he hovered into the center of the throne room. "I'm shutting you down, Suboto; _permanently_."

"There is no price on my head!" the reptilian replied desperately, "Why do you want to kill me?"

"I'll only kill you if you don't give me what I want: information."

Suboto trembled as he hesitated for an answer. Then, a door on the far side of the room opened, and Suboto grinned. He was confident now. "So sorry, Mercenary, but I believe I can't tell you anything. It wouldn't matter if I did anyway, because you won't be leaving here alive. My reinforcements might come as a surprise to you."

The door swung wide open, and a very large man walked forward. He obviously had superhuman strength, evidenced by his bulging muscles and hulk of a body. He wore a black skin-tight mask that showed the mouth and eyes. Sharp, metal spikes went around his neck in a collar, around his wrists as wristbands, and down his spine. From the look on Mercenary's face, Kim deduced that the silver hunter had encountered this brute before.

"I am pleased to see you again, Mercenary," the brute said in a thick Russian accent. "Now I finally have an opportunity to feel your spine crumble in my hands."

"Who is this guy?" Kim whispered to Mercenary.

"His name's Mr. Spite. He's a mercenary like me."

Mr. Spite, as he was evidently called, was topless but had dark pants and boots that made the ground quake whenever he took a step. Kim wondered how such a being had gained so much strength: there weren't any plugs in his body that could mean that he was powered by something. No, it had to be something else entirely. "What's the deal, Spite?" Mercenary asked coldly, "You couldn't get a good-enough job, so you had to resort to body guarding?"

Mr. Spite grinned, "Your humor is refreshing, Mercenary. I will miss it when you nothing but a corpse." He then yanked the door off its hinges and hurled it at Mercenary and Kim. The silver hunter shoved Kim out of the way and rocketed himself upwards, avoiding the attack.

"Isn't it your style to work alone?" Mr. Spite asked. "Why did you bring along a pretty little partner?" He ran over to Kim and made to grab her. Spite was knocked away when Mercenary rammed into him, flying at full speed from the jetpack. The spiked brute crashed loudly into the wall, and Mercenary readied his force shields. When Spite had pushed himself out of the debris, Nathan attacked, making slash after slash across Mr. Spite's face.

Mercenary was dealt a severe blow when Mr. Spite suddenly thrust a fist into Nathan's gut. Though his armor protected him, Mercenary would still feel it mildly. It was enough to temporarily knock the wind out of Nathan, and Spite grabbed him by the leg and threw him across the room. Mr. Spite leapt after Mercenary, seizing the opportunity: Mercenary was unconscious. Mr. Spite chuckled triumphantly; he had waited for this moment for a long time. This was the perfect chance to discover Mercenary's true identity and toss away that irritable helmet.

Having such a mindset, Mr. Spite picked up Mercenary by the head. The brute's big hand was able to palm Nathan's head, but it could not remove the helmet! Spite wiggled Mercenary there in his grip, but the body of the silver hunter never detached from the mask. Mr. Spite muttered sounds in frustration: how had Mercenary been able to lock his head into that contraption? Witnessing Spite's attempt to unmask her ally, Kim ran toward Mr. Spite, leapt into the air, and set her foot into the brute's face. True, it had some effect, but Spite backhanded her fiercely anyway after she made the attack.

With Kim knocked down and Mr. Spite moving in to finish her, a rejuvenated Mercenary activated his force shields, getting Spite's attention. The Russian grunted in confusion: Mercenary was so far away, what could he possibly do with the force shields at such a distance? Obviously, Mr. Spite didn't know about Mercenary's recent upgrade. Nathan thrust his arms forward, and the red-laser force shields slid off his wrists and sped at Mr. Spite, making him gasp in amazement and frustration at the same time.

The first force shield struck Mr. Spite square in the face, forcing him to do a backwards flip. The second force shield hit his back afterward, carrying him into the wall. Mercenary ran over to Kim and helped her up, asking if she was alright. Kim nodded, but gasped when she saw Suboto shooting at them with a machine gun. Mercenary whipped out a pistol and fired at the reptile of a man; the hunter's pistol was set for automatic, so it made Suboto cower.

Meanwhile, Mr. Spite had recovered and was ready to engage Mercenary in combat again. He surprised Mercenary by grabbing him from behind, "Now, I will break your skull!" Spite put Mercenary into a headlock and began to squeeze. After a few seconds, an electrical current shocked Mr. Spite off Mercenary: a defense mechanism of the suit. Suboto used this time to get away, exiting through a door behind his throne. It was the entrance to the death drug factory.

Kim Possible chased after him, following him through the door. She was awestruck by the structure of this factory. Pipes and conveyor belts traveled up and down, left and right. Crates full of death drugs were carried from here to there and all around the room, exiting through different holes. It was a vast network of intertwining technology, with barely any way for a human to get around safely. To top it off, there was a dark pit below this web of pipes and conveyor belts.

Mr. Spite had tackled Mercenary hard enough to carry both of them through the wall behind Suboto's throne and into the factory. Kim ducked as the two joined her. Spite slammed Mercenary into a pipe and tried to pin him there. However, Nathan activated his force shield and made a fierce uppercut that freed himself from Spite's grasp. Mercenary then kicked Mr. Spite in the stomach, and the brute was knocked away, falling. He fell past the technology and down into the dark pit. Not a sound was made that signaled his death.

Mercenary grunted as he pulled himself onto the pipe. He caught his breath and looked at Kim, who had a sullen expression upon her face. "He's survived worse than that," Mercenary said to her, "Mr. Spite will be back. I didn't kill him."

Kim nodded reluctantly, and Mercenary helped her onto the pipe he was standing on. It was pretty slippery. The two looked to their right and spotted Suboto. Even though he was in charge of this whole operation, Suboto was having some major difficulty getting through his own factory. He had become increasingly anxious to get away: his main and most powerful bodyguard had just been defeated. In light of that, Suboto remembered that nearly all of his henchmen were wiped out! Still, he could not let Mercenary get to him; Suboto had to get away.

Following Suboto, Kim and Mercenary slid down the pipes and jumped onto conveyor belts. Along the way, Mercenary was tossing thick disc-like mines on the equipment and into the vats of chemicals. Kim marveled at this, remembering his plan. He was actually going to destroy the death drug factory, which would save many lives. Maybe there was some hope for him after all, Kim thought.

The little lizard man hissed happily has he crawled along a green pipe that led to a small opening. What he entered resembled a hangar: his means of escape. He started to giggle incessantly, realizing his triumph. Suboto's victory celebration, however, was ended abruptly when he felt himself become tied up by Mercenary's capture caster, a ping-pong-sized ball that exploded upon touching Suboto and bound him from shoulder to ankle. Suboto screamed as he started to roll off the side of the hangar's platform. Mercenary grabbed him before he could fall, though.

Throwing him in the center of the platform, Mercenary growled coldly, "You've lost, Suboto: your operation shut down, your bodyguard defeated, your career in ruin. Tell me what I want to know: where is the Jade Claw?"

Suboto spat.

Mercenary sighed and held up a tiny remote control. He pressed the button in the center. Instantly, the death drug factory behind them exploded and burst into flames. Smoke rose high into the air, and Suboto began to whimper. "No more death drugs," Mercenary said, "You're next. I won't ask again."

"I'LL TELL YOU NOTHING!" he screamed in reply. At the sound of that, Kim ran over to Suboto and punched him so hard in the face that she knocked out all of his teeth. The little bones were spattered across the floor, stained with blood. Kim was breathing heavily but relieved. She had wanted to do that for a long time.

"You're a _monster_!" Kim screamed at Suboto, "You torture those poor girls! You make them dance in front of you and kill them if they stop! YOU'RE SICK!"

Suboto looked at her in terror: he thought that Mercenary was the bad one! Mercenary stood in front of Kim, faced Suboto, and said, "I can't hold my friend back forever, Suboto. You've got one last chance."

Just as the reptilian was about to answer, he heard the sound of helicopters. "Sorry," he hissed through his toothless mouth, "I won't be saying anything today. See, while you were fighting Mr. Spite, I called the police, turning myself in. Now they've arrived, and you can't do anything. Looks like I get away after all, Mercenary. You lose."

Before Kim could even respond or do anything, she was surrounded by the authorities. Mercenary managed to pull her off to the side and out of their way. The armed policemen hastily carried a laughing Suboto into their helicopter. Mercenary muttered to Kim, "This isn't over."

He turned away, looking at the sky, "Freckles, bring my jet around to the far side of the compound."

To be perfectly honest, Ron didn't do much steering. Rufus was actually the one at the controls, considering that Ron had crashed several times while simply attempting to lift off from or exit the jungle. The naked mole rat had groaned, shoved him out of the way, and showed Ron how to do it properly. It was always a wonder that Rufus was far more competent that Ron.

Seeing Ron again made Kim jump. He was, for lack of a term, a sight for sore eyes. It seemed like years since she had left him there and gone off to the lagoon. Kim remembered how long her little adventure had been: the swimming, the shock of finding the outfit, the embarrassment of being nude in front of two dozen girls and an armed guard, the dancing, the moaning, the exhaustion, the fear of being picked or killed, the escape and finding a way down, the meeting with Mercenary, the assault on Suboto's compound, the battle with Mr. Spite, the maneuvering through the pipes, and the punch she gave Suboto that he _so_ deserved.

Ron had exited the jet with a goofy smile, but Kim embraced him nonetheless. He was her best friend, and she seriously needed to hug somebody. Mercenary stood there, watching the two of them. When Ron felt a bit awkward, he tapped Kim on the shoulder. She nodded and pulled away, returning her gaze to Mercenary. The silver hunter signaled that the three of them get into the jet. Mercenary piloted the jet around the compound and found the place where he had rendezvoused with Kim. Police were everywhere, but it was nice to see that the dancers were being freed and the guards were being tied up.

"I think it's time I drop you off," Mercenary said to the two of them. The jet landed at the base of the compound, and Kim and Ron exited the aircraft with Rufus. Kim felt compelled to wave goodbye, but she decided against it. Mercenary had to go alone from here: he couldn't bring Kim home with him. Despite Kim's grief of seeing Mercenary fly away, she was happy to see the brunette dancer that helped her, who was now fully clothed in a pink t-shirt and jeans. She was also wrapped in a blanket.

"Gawd, it's been so long since I've worn something different from that degrading outfit," the brunette said to Kim. "Good thing the policemen were nice enough to provide us all with some clothes. Hey! I never caught your name, what is it?"

"Kim. Kim Possible."

The brunette recognized the name as that of the girl who saved the world several times. She smiled and said, "I'm Amber. Thanks again for saving me."

Kim blushed, "Oh, don't thank me. Without Mercenary, I would have never got here."

Amber smiled at Kim, "Thank him for me."

Kim smiled back and looked at the sky, seeing Mercenary's jet fade away in the clouds. It was so far away that she could barely make it out, but Kim knew it was there. A lock of hair blew in Kim's face, and she put it behind her ear.

"Don't worry," Kim whispered, "I will."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

There is a time in every girl's life when she either regrets or is thankful for the people she has met. In Kim Possible's case, she was somewhat indecisive about Mercenary. She would vacillate on this subject for a very long time. First, there was that whole issue with the Kingston 5000x: points against Mercenary, to be sure. But, if she hadn't have met Mercenary, Kim wouldn't have known about Suboto and the girls he enslaved.

Amber was one of those girls and, needless to say, she was indeed glad that Mercenary and Kim met. He was essential to her salvation, so to speak. Now, Amber could return home and to the life she once knew, before she became addicted to death drugs. Her family undoubtedly missed her, so Mercenary's actions resulted in bringing joy to people. Kim couldn't overlook that.

Like Amber, Kim was returning home too. The police had given Kim a lift home and thanked her for eliminating the death drug factory. She had to constantly remind them that it was Mercenary's doing, but the policemen simply chuckled and shook their heads. Kim would frown when they did that. Even Ron had a hard time believing that Mercenary had any trace of goodness in him; the guy killed people for a living.

The Mercenary issue aside, Kim remembered that she had _another_ issue to deal with: the Nathan Porter issue. Here was a guy that Kim had been friends with, relatively speaking, a long time ago, but now their friendship was not as it once was. Something had happened to Nathan, and Kim was determined to find out what it was and "bring him back to the light." She had yet to make due on this undertaking, but Kim was confident that it could happen.

Anyway, the sad fact was that Kim didn't have a lead on Suboto. Apparently, Mercenary didn't either. Kim asked Wade to do more searching, but he couldn't find anything. Suboto was the last "publicly known" agent of the Slashers, everyone higher up on the list was secret. Still, stuff like that didn't stop Wade, so he would take a big swig of his soda and frantically type again. Ron, however, encouraged Kim to take a break from this whole Jade Claw thing. It was the weekend, after all.

"Come on, Ron, we _never_ come here," Kim said, pleading with him not to take her into the Borders Bookstore. She shied away from it, bringing up the puppy-dog pout—a facial expression that involved the quivering of her lower lip—to make Ron change his mind.

"KP, I just got to check something."

Drat! No effect, Kim thought. So, she reluctantly entered the bookstore with her freckled best friend. Kim's initial judgments were incorrect about Borders: it was, in fact, very friendly by appearance. The books were stacked neatly; the carpet was soft and homey; there was even a little café off to the left. Kim would have studied the atmosphere more, had Ron not been tugging on the sleeve of her beige shirt for twenty seconds straight.

"KP!" he whispered, "Over there! Look! No, not there; over _there_!" Ron pointed a finger at a boy sitting in a fluffy black chair, reading something. Kim didn't recognize who it was right away, but Ron's anxious tugging told her enough. It was Nathan. What kind of weird power in the universe makes him be in the same exact place as Kim at the same exact time? This was total freakiness, as far as Kim was concerned.

"I… I can't face him," she said, becoming increasingly nervous. "I-I'm not ready. Let's go. Come on."

Ron gave her a look. He smiled, "Kim, you got to get it out of your system. Just go over there and talk. Here, I'll go with you."

"Oh, _that's_ reassuring."

While Ron strolled over to Nathan, Kim approached him slowly, like she was scooting herself along the carpet. When Nathan saw the two, he gave a half-smile, "Hello, again. How're you doing, camper?" Kim blushed. He remembered about and reminded her of the time they spent at camp when they were little.

"What are you reading?" Ron asked, trying to further the conversation. Ron's question was answered when the freckled boy glanced at the cover. On it was a drawing of five colorful costumed teenagers, and the title was "Teen Titans Go!"

"No way!" Ron said before Nathan could speak, "You read 'Teen Titans Go'?"

Kim looked at Ron and raised an eyebrow, "_You_ do?" After which, Ron nodded with enthusiasm.

"I must admit," Nathan said, "I am quite the avid fan. It's a shame the show was cancelled, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah! Darn! By the way, who's your favorite character?"

Nathan flipped the comic book around and pointed to a picture of a girl in a blue hooded cloak. She wore a tight leotard but had bare legs. "Raven," Nathan said at last.

Ron's face dropped, as if he was disappointed, "Aw, mine's Beast Boy. He seems the most like me." He suddenly felt someone tugging fiercely at his maroon t-shirt; it was Kim. She pulled him aside.

"You're not making this any easier!" she said.

"KP, I had no idea Nate was such a cool guy! If he's into Teen Titans, he's got to be fun! I still can't get over it!"

"I still can't get over the fact that you like Teen Titans too!" she replied angrily.

"Fine, fine, I'll back off. _You're_ the one that wants to get close to him." Ron smirked at Kim and then he looked at Nathan, saying, "I'm… um… going to go find some more Teen Titans comic books. You two have fun."

And with that, Ron went off to explore the bookstore. Kim was left alone there, standing in front of Nathan and staring at him again. When she didn't say anything, Nathan shrugged and went back to his reading. He thought he heard her run off, but when he tilted the book to see, Nathan saw that Kim was still standing there.

"You're still here?" he asked in a bewildered tone.

"I'm still here," she answered softly.

"Well, what do you want?"

"Maybe I can get to know you," Kim responded hesitatingly. "You don't seem to have many friends here, so maybe I can be one."

Nathan studied Kim's words and her expression. She seemed genuinely interested in helping Nathan, and that's what confused him. She was the first girl who had ever come to him; he usually had to go to them. It was unreal, Nathan thought, that somebody in world would actually want to get to know him. Maybe it was exactly what Nathan needed, but at this point, he wasn't sure.

He sat there, his eyes fixed on her figure. It was utterly beautiful. Kim was like an angel from Heaven. He knew that he didn't deserve those legs, that thick but smooth red hair, or those large uncanny green eyes. Nathan looked her up and down, without her noticing, of course. Her body was incredibly slender, but it was obviously not produced from bad habits like bulimia. This was an athletic body, a strong body: a body strong enough to match her character.

And for a brief moment Nathan Porter wanted to say "yes." Even with all his hopes and dreams before him, all present in this ethereal being, he could not. His past and his other life would get in the way. He had screwed up any chance of a major loving relationship long ago, when he decided to take on the mantle. Nathan had murdered people before, all for the sake of money. There was no way anyone could love someone who did that. Angels don't love murderers.

It was then that Ron Stoppable returned and ended the awkwardness of the situation. "Yo! KP! I found a whole bunch! Look, there's last week's, this week's, and I'm not even sure what this one is, but I like it!"

Nathan smiled and replied, "Better catch up on your reading, there's a major revelation in the issue I'm looking at."

"Hey, Nate, why don't you come over to my house and play some video games? You do like video games, right?"

Nathan was taken aback by the question. It was totally random. Sure, he was a Teen Titan fan like Ron, but did that mean that he had to go and play video games? It was a very surprising offer, just out of the blue like that. He knew that Kim was trying to get to know him, so perhaps Ron was assisting her in that goal. Well, in _that_ case…

"Yes, I do like video games. I play them a lot, actually."

"Well, what's your answer?"

"Okay, then; as long as Kim will be there. Sure."

The entire time, Kim was staring wide-eyed at Ron because of the offer he just made. Kim didn't know whether to strangle Ron or hug him. She had wanted to make such an offer herself but couldn't stomach the words. Being around Nathan was doing something to her, and Kim was determined to find out what. Kim would later pull Ron aside and ask him when they were alone, "Do you seriously watch Teen Titans?"

Ron became nervous, rubbing his head, "I… um… watch a few of them, yeah. What, it's not like I'm addicted to the Robin/Starfire shipper forums or anything! Hey, they've had some really good episodes! And why do I have to explain myself? Liking Teen Titans isn't a bad thing! I am, er, _proud_ to be a Teen Titan fan! I just won't yell it… today."

Thank God she met Ron.

---

Kim soon realized how incredibly nervous she was having Nathan over at Ron's house. Sure, it wasn't _her_ home, but it was nerve racking all the same. She ransacked her mind to think of something that they would be able to do: the last thing she wanted was to bore him. She had to keep him entertained somehow. Movies were so five years ago, and talking was just out of the question. This honestly wasn't meant to be a date, but Kim was treating it as such.

Ron, on the other hand, kept reminding Kim that it was no big deal and the important thing was to introduce Nathan around. After all, he hadn't seen this place (or much else) since he moved here. So if Kim was looking for a way to busy him, a grand tour of sorts would be the best option. Again, it was Ron's house rather than Kim's, so the sheer awkwardness of giving a tour of someone _else's_ home would make him want to leave, right?

Apparently, not in the slightest, but to be perfectly truthful, Nathan didn't receive a tour of Ron's house. Instead, the freckled inventor of the naco invited Nathan to play some video games. Nathan couldn't resist, seeing that Ron actually had a game that Nathan himself possessed: Star Wars Battlefront II. After the appropriate five minutes of Ron's bragging about his expertise on the game, along with Kim's embarrassment of the whole thing, it seemed like they were ready to kick it off.

Ron was surprised to find out that Nathan was pretty good. Moreover, Nathan was destroying Ron on the battlefield. He and Rufus were a team against Nathan, who maneuvered his snow speeder around a tall walking turret. Nathan had handled the controller so well that he made the speeder fire at a mine that was directly below Ron's feet. As Ron gasped and panted, Kim studied the game intently, trying to follow what the heck these two were doing.

"You're pretty good!" Ron said enthusiastically.

"Well," Nathan replied, "when you don't hang out with anyone, video games like Battlefront II can be a good friend."

Kim was listening and became sad when she heard Nathan say that. True, he was an obnoxious guy and his sarcasm kept many people away. But Ron was somewhat of an outcast too, and these two seemed to get along. Kim hoped that this was Nathan's better side she was seeing, and also hoped that it wasn't all an act. Kim's determination to save Nathan became stronger, and she thought that he needed someone who was _more_ than a friend. Kim would have to be that someone.

On the TV screen, a blue and gray armored soldier jumped out of the snow speeder. He had a odd looking helmet, with a T-shaped visor and an antenna that pointed upwards on the right side. Ron chuckled when he saw Nathan's character, "So, you like Jango Fett, huh? He's kind of a weakling. I mean, Mace Windu cut off his head after jogging up to him."

"If you study the movie, that's because Jango's jetpack malfunctioned at the last second! Mace Windu would have been toast if Jango eluded him. A bounty hunter just has to collect himself and analyze the situation. Don't forget, Boba Fett is technically the exact same as Jango Fett and has survived for all these years."

Ron opened his mouth… but hesitated. There was a major debate on the "death" of Boba Fett: was he or was he not devoured in a pit of teeth? However, Ron noted that Nathan was the type of guy that would argue about such a thing for hours. Instead of going into the debate, Ron addressed Nathan's interest, saying, "So, you know a lot about Jango, eh?"

"He's my favorite character. Not only that, but he's the only one I relate to the most. Second for me is Darth Vader; I think the story of that man is more of a _tragedy_ than a betrayal. Sure Vader has made some bad decisions, but there were things that happened in his life that affected him to make those decisions."

"I hear you," Ron said, nodding. He glanced over at Kim, who was sitting on the couch, twiddling her thumbs. He turned back to Nathan, "You know what? I'm going to sit this one out. Why don't you challenge Rufus?"

Nathan nodded and grinned at the naked mole rat. The challenge began. Meanwhile, Ron walked over to Kim and sat next to her. He looked at her with concern: something was wrong. She was his best friend; it wasn't cool when things were wrong in her life. And that's saying a lot. "What's wrong, Kim?"

"I don't know what I should do," she whispered. "I mean, I want to help and get to know Nate, but his past sitch with Monique makes me wonder if that's a good idea. I don't want to do something that will upset my friendship with her, Ron. Is Nathan better off alone?"

"KP, look at him. When he's around people, he seems so much happier. I don't know what it is, but something happened to him that makes him disliked and he doesn't want to be liked. We've given him a chance and found out that he's a majorly fun guy! I'm not popular but you're friends with me—"

"I've always been friends with you."

"…I'm just saying," Ron continued, "that you're right: Nate deserves someone to be close to him. We all do. I admit it, KP: I was a little skeptical about this guy, and I was feeling awk-weird. This didn't feel right because he's Monique's ex, but now I see why you should help him. Kim, I think you're the only one who can."

Then Ron leaned in closer, his voice became soft and quiet, barely audible, "Ask him out."

"You're okay with it?" Kim replied in the same volume.

"No one else in the world is going to give him the chance. Maybe it's what you're meant to do."

"Then stop hogging him!"

Ron smiled at this and chuckled a little bit. "Okay, okay," he said.

Even with Ron on her side, Kim couldn't bring herself to ask Nathan out that night. The break-up with Monique haunted Kim's mind: she had to know what the cause was. It didn't make sense; Nathan was quite the amiable fellow once one got to know him, so why did his relationship with Monique end? Did _he_ end it, or did Monique find something out that she didn't like?

In light of Kim's hesitation, Nathan bid her goodnight and went home. She watched him drive away in his Chrysler Concord, wondering how such a person could be alone. Ron gave her a pat on the back and said that everything would be okay. He said that Kim would have the courage to do it someday, and she should take her time. Unlike some of the other boys Kim and Ron met, Ron didn't have much of a problem with Nathan.

It was just as well, Kim supposed, because right as she was pulling up the covers and turning out the light, the familiar sound of the kimmunicator was heard. She scrambled frantically for it; perhaps Wade had found something. When she finally found it and turned on the monitor, she wasn't met by Wade. Not surprisingly, it was Mercenary.

"I've discovered Suboto's location," he said, that darn raspy voice irritating Kim. "If you want in, you'd better hurry. I'm sending you my location right now."

Kim wasn't even going to question how he had gotten this frequency; he had done so before. After all, Kim had a publicly accessible website, and one didn't need to do too much thinking to piece together that Mercenary tracked the kimmunicator's frequency from the website.

Mercenary's face faded from the screen, and Kim threw the covers off. She grabbed her mission clothes, ready to go out again. However, one thing still perturbed Kim: Mercenary hadn't asked her to "not bring Freckles." Odd? Perhaps.

---

Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable met Mercenary exactly fifty two minutes later, at a location Mercenary revealed. This place was supposedly holding Suboto. How did Mercenary come across such a place? Well, apparently, Suboto had turned himself in as a means of escaping from Mercenary, but he later put a price on his own head as a means of breaking himself out of jail. Anyone who wanted 50,000 dollars would give it a shot.

Of course, it wasn't like picking up the boss's dry cleaning. Suboto was incarcerated in a maximum security prison, and a federal one at that. Not just anybody could break in: it would take some talent and quick thinking. Suboto had hoped that his bodyguard, Mr. Spite, or someone from the Slashers would come to his rescue. After sitting in a tight cell and twiddling his thumbs for eight hours, Suboto realized that maybe turning himself in wasn't the best idea he'd had.

Mercenary wasn't the type of person to let a maximum security prison stand in his way of obtaining information. Suboto was inside, and Mercenary needed information from him. It was as simple as that. However, chances were that Suboto wasn't going to pay Mercenary for breaking him out: it's quite a slap in the face to have the cops drag you away from Mercenary in the middle of his questioning. Mercenary would probably kill Suboto for that.

Angry as she was at Suboto, Kim couldn't let Mercenary kill the stinker. She was there to stop the Slashers' operation of dealing and producing death drugs, and if that meant breaking a sick freak like Suboto out of prison, then so be it. Kim figured this "rescue attempt" was going to be pretty difficult anyway, based on her observations of the area. The prison facility seemed to be primarily underground, and the land that surrounded it was made up of rock: gray, jagged, smoke-scented rock.

Ron and Rufus were playing with the pebbles at their feet, and Mercenary leaned on a boulder and looked downwards at the facility. He was hidden from anyone down there; guards weren't going to spot him. Even the search lights didn't tilt up that way: they were confident in their maximum-security-ness. Normally, Mercenary would have considered this a weakness, but perhaps they had good reason to be confident. It would take some heavy strategizing to crack this place like an egg.

"We can't move," Mercenary said determinedly. "I've watched these guys rotate shifts: they're efficient."

"Is there another way?" Kim asked. There was no way Ron was going to say anything: he was too busy flicking rocks into the air, and Rufus competed with him.

"We could stow away on a supply ship, but then we'd risk detection. I want to slip in and be out before they find out Suboto's missing. I can see, however, that security carts enter into that spot, there." He pointed to a lit entrance where trucks of guards in brown uniforms hitched a ride. It would be tight, but they could pull it off.

"Let me think for a second," Mercenary said after a slight pause. "Yes," he continued, "my schematics show me that going in that way is not far from an elevator that descends to the level of the prison cells. However, we've got another fifteen minutes before the next cart arrives."

"So, we just sit here?"

"Unless you want to try a frontal assault that brings out every guard and cop within two hundred miles, yes. Once we're in, it will be easier, or not."

Kim groaned: there was no way in hell she was going to sit here for fifteen minutes and not do anything. Mercenary had avoided the subject long enough, and since Kim was an independent woman (relatively speaking), she made the inquiry. "For as long as I've known you, Mercenary, you don't seem to like this hunting thing."

"Are you kidding?" Mercenary retorted, his sarcasm loud and clear, "Killing people is very satisfying. Making them wet themselves is hilarious!"

"I'm serious," she said, folding her arms.

"What reason do you give people when they ask you why you became a teen heroine? Or do you not get asked that question a lot?"

"I do it… because it's right. If I don't help people, no one will."

"What about Batman? You're seriously cutting in on his saving-people time. Seriously, hasn't he called you yet? 'Hey Possible! I have dibs on the Joker! Go do some homework or something!'"

She stood there frowning in frustration. Mercenary saw that she didn't find what he said funny. "We don't always get to do what we want to do: stuff comes up in our lives and screws them up," he said, "We get screwed up. Some people escape it and get to live their dreams. The rest of us are yanked out of our lives and pulled into something we had no idea we'd be doing. A girl gets pregnant, her life changes. No more being a nurse for her, she's got to be a mommy now. It's sad, Kim, but it's the truth."

"You're wrong. Choice has a lot to do with it."

"Oh, stop hiding! Yes, you choose stuff all the time, but it doesn't work out all the time. If that girl had an abortion, her life has still changed. She remembers that time of finding out she's pregnant and realizes that she just killed her kid. Guilt stays with you. We've already made our choices: we don't make them now. You've already chosen what you're going to do today: you just don't know it yet. Therefore, stuff happens where the choice never mattered."

"You're saying we can't get out of a situation?"

"I'm saying that some people are doomed to doing something different than they expected. It's just the whims of God, so to speak. Some people escape it or are destined to do what they want and live their dreams. You and me, we doomed to live an extraordinary life, whether we wanted to or not."

Kim's eyes softened, "You never wanted to be the person you are now, did you?"

"Who would? But it's who I am. I won't change. I just changed the job my dad had to a more profitable one. My family came from a long line of people, each of which called himself at one point 'the Hunter.' The symbol we wore was a mask with three red cuts diagonally along the face. The Hunter didn't hunt men; I'm the only one to do that. Those before me hunted one and only one entity: the Demon.

"She was," Mercenary continued, "part of a species, now extinct, called gargoyles. Other than the Demon herself, I have never met any of these creatures. But legend has it that they turned to stone during the day and came to life when the sun went down. The gargoyles didn't survive the centuries, however, and were systematically killed off by their enemies. The Demon managed to use magic or sorcery to survive the years, and the Hunter has hunted her for over a millennium.

"It all started about one thousand years ago, in Scotland, 994 A.D."

_flashback _

_The stable was muddy. Gillecomgain was trying to clean it up. Father wouldn't be pleased if the stable was still so filthy by supper time. Even though he worked as hard as he could, Gillecomgain was still a boy, so his strength was limited. The sun was already going down. Father would soon call out for supper._

_He groaned and said to himself, "It's always Gillecomgain milk the cows; Gillecomgain check the stables." The boy knew he had to clean it up. However, his diligence was interrupted by a faint squish. At least, Gillecomgain thought it was a squish. Without making a sound—as Gillecomgain didn't even know if there was anything to make a sound about—he crept around the side and peeked down the far end of the stable._

_Something was there. It was one of those things: a gargoyle. Stone by day and warriors by night, they were. This one was female, light blue skinned, dark red hair. She was devouring fruit. Gillecomgain had heard that these creatures were intelligent, so he reasoned that asking it politely to leave was the best option. Still, no harm in having a pitchfork handy, he thought._

_Gillecomgain made a loud grunt to get the gargoyle's attention and inform it of his distaste. What Gillecomgain hadn't counted on, however, was the gargoyle's reaction: she was startled. So startled, in fact, that she hissed, screamed, and roared, lashing out at the poor Scottish boy and crying out, "Get back, vile human!" The female gargoyle made a quick but fierce slash at his head and sprinted out of the stable._

"_Ah!" he screamed in pain, "My face!" Gillecomgain dropped to his knees and covered his face with his hands. Blood seeped between the fingers. Gillecomgain was scarred. And a cry echoed throughout Scotland that night: a cry of hatred, a cry of sorrow, and a cry of promise. "DEMON!"_

_---_

_His face was ruined and marked by three massive parallel scars. Gillecomgain swore vengeance on that female gargoyle, but he came across several obstacles. One, it was very difficult to find a gargoyle because none of them had names. Two, the gargoyle population was in hiding because they were constantly under attack. Gillecomgain instead spent his time preparing for the day that he would face her again. He trained himself in the mantle of war, and he became the first Hunter._

_The Hunter learned that the female gargoyle, which he called "the Demon," had long desired to rid the world of humans and replace it with her own species, gargoyles. Though gargoyles were much stronger than humans, their weakness of becoming stone during the day was often exploited. The Hunter came across many gargoyles, and he slew them either at night or during the day. He smiled, for the Demon would not be pleased._

_He was right. The Demon became an endangered being. She would wail and scream at night, crying out for the lives of her family and friends lost during the day. Her statue would have stone tears that almost glimmered in the sun's light, but no one saw these tears. The Demon was smart enough to hide away where no vile human could find her. "I will not let him win!"_

_Before she had "met" Gillecomgain, the Demon was part of clan of other gargoyles that protected a place called Castle Wyvern. However, several Viking enemies attempted to conquer and ransack the castle more than once, making the Demon nervous about her residency and survival. She tried to devise a plan to lead away her clan, but it failed. The Captain of Castle Wyvern had swore to protect the clan, but the Demon didn't trust him. Her intuition was right: the Captain betrayed the gargoyles. The Demon had always distrusted humans, but this betrayal provoked a much stronger hatred for them. The Demon would attack innocent people like Gillecomgain because of enmity._

_Gillecomgain wasn't concerned with the entire species of gargoyles: he only wanted to slay the Demon. Many gargoyles died at his hands, however, because he wanted to lure the Demon to him. For many years, she never came. Yes, she loved her clan and race, but when her survival came into question, the Demon was reluctant to rush head-strong into such a dangerous situation._

_Becoming the personal mercenary and assassin for a man named Duncan, Gillecomgain waited out the Demon. He knew that they would cross paths again. Meanwhile, Duncan had ordered and urged Gillecomgain to carry out killings in the matters of politics. Duncan wanted to protect his political position, and in order to do that he required that Gillecomgain eliminate several politicians. One of these was a young man named Prince Macbeth._

_Duncan feared that Macbeth would assume the position that Duncan himself had, so Duncan ordered Gillecomgain to dispatch Macbeth. Even though he disagreed, Gillecomgain went off to slay Macbeth and secure lordship for Duncan. By some twisted chance of fate, the Demon interfered. As she cornered him against the side of the castle, the Demon spoke, "Know what it feels like to be hunted, human. And know that it is the last thing you will ever feel!" She had long remembered the Hunter's act of slaughtering her clan._

_Gliding on her gargoyle wings, the Demon swooped down and knocked Gillecomgain away. He had put on his mask, revealing to all that he was the Hunter, and shifted his attention from finishing Macbeth to killing the Demon. When the Demon attacked with her claws, the Hunter lifted his mace and smacked her across the face. She flew hard and fast into the wall. The Demon was temporarily dazed, but the Hunter struck again. She cried out in pain, holding onto her damaged wing._

"_Care to try again? Monster!" the Hunter shouted._

_With a shriek, the Demon sprang to her feet and tackled the Hunter. She pinned him against the edge of the castle's wall. With great anger and hatred, she pulled off his mask, seeing his face again. "Look closely, creature," Gillecomgain said, referring to the massive scars, "Tis your handiwork, done when I was but a boy. Remember?" He stared into her glowing eyes. She hissed: this Hunter was the same boy that she had attacked in the stable! Still, she lied, "No."_

_Such a remark angered Gillecomgain, and he pulled the Demon over the edge with him. As the brown-bearded Macbeth watched, Gillecomgain and the Demon toppled over the side of the castle's wall. Below were sharp rocks: the imminent death of anyone who happened to let go. Macbeth remembered that this female gargoyle had just helped him, so he ran to help her. Gillecomgain hung on to the Demon's legs, but she smacked him off with her tail. Gillecomgain fell to his death. It was over. The Hunter was dead. Macbeth and the Demon had formed an alliance._

_---_

_When Duncan had learned that the Demon interfered and prevented Gillecomgain from killing Macbeth, he assumed the role of the Hunter. Thus, the Hunter's mantle passed from person to person and, as Duncan told his son one day, "There will always be a Hunter." Though Duncan had failed in eliminating Macbeth, his political position was secure._

_During his alliance with the Demon, Macbeth was eternally linked to her. Three sorceresses called the Weird Sisters had orchestrated a covenant between the Demon, who Macbeth named "Demona," and Macbeth. They were made immortal and swore to always aid each other. The Weird Sisters later told Macbeth and Demona that the covenant could be broken if one killed the other, otherwise the two felt each other's pain._

_Duncan eventually betrayed Macbeth, gathering an army from another country. This prompted Demona to defend Macbeth by killing him. However, the army was only loyal to Duncan because Demona existed. Thus, Demona was afraid that Macbeth would betray her for peace. She therefore deserted Macbeth and his home was destroyed. When the two confronted each other, Macbeth asked, "Why?"_

"_I merely offer you a sample of what you planned for me."_

_But Macbeth was confused, "I planned for you to govern by my side. And now, because of you my kingdom is in flames!"_

"_Spare me your righteous outrage, Macbeth! I know you would have betrayed me and my kind to win the approval of the English!"_

"_Never would I have done so! We have been allies for thirty-seven years!"_

_At this, the Demon growled, "Too long, it seems." _

_Macbeth, in anger, assumed the role of the Hunter and set out to kill Demona. Macbeth's time as the Hunter was only temporary, but it was crucial to the Hunter's legacy. Before, no Hunter could slay Demona after the covenant between her and Macbeth was made. Now, since Macbeth had been a Hunter, anyone who was a part of the Hunter's bloodline could._

_But the Demon's immortality seemingly meant that she was still around to this day._

_end flashback _

"My family never killed the Demon: all their battles were inconclusive. I am a part of the Hunter's legacy, but since the Demon hasn't appeared in so long, I stay on top of things by being a mercenary. If I don't encounter the Demon in this world, I surely will in the next," Mercenary finished.

Kim was, at some point, entranced by Mercenary's story. His raspy voice didn't annoy her so much. However, all this talk about Gilleh-whatever-his-name-was and Macbeth just confused her. However, Mercenary wasn't the type of person to tell her everything at once, so she would have to wait to fully understand it. He would tell her the rest when he was ready.

And Kim Possible was not sure if she would ever meet Mercenary's Demon, but it was obvious that Mercenary had changed his focus since then. The focus was now on Suboto, death drug supplier. Mercenary looked at the dark night sky and then at Ron, who was sleeping. When he looked to Kim for a reaction about Ron, she smiled and shrugged.

Mercenary glanced over his shoulder and the boulder. "It's time," he said coldly. "Wake him up. Let's go."

---

Ron had to admit, it must have been a lovely story. What kind of tale made Kim so flustered, so disturbed? It was like someone told her a ghost story. Even though Ron knew Kim could handle those stories, this one must have been different. What did Mercenary say to her? Darn it! If he only stayed awake! Darn Rufus and his rock tossing games! Well, at least Ron was able to get a nap. That is, until Kim nudged him with her foot and Mercenary, after waiting a good twenty seconds, kicked him hard in the ribs. Ow.

Why was coming to this stupid maximum security prison so important anyway? Yeah, that lizard Subo-whatever guy was in there. Mercenary wanted him, wanted information. Seriously, this guy needs a chill pill, Ron thought. And why was Kim going along with all this? He knew that she wanted to stop him from killing people, but this seemed a little extreme. If Ron didn't know better, he would have thought that Kim was Mercenary's accomplice. Of course, in his mind, he would have used another word besides "accomplice."

"Hey! Freckles! Let's go!"

Ron hated being called that. And, what he hated more was that everyone was forgetting his name. C'mon, it was just as catchy was "Kim Possible," right? So, what's the deal? Oh well, at least he wasn't alone: Rufus was always described as a bald hamster or something. That must be upsetting. He wanted to tell Mercenary to buzz off, but he might get shot or fried or electrocuted or tied up or hit or blown to bits. Anyway, Kim was counting on Ron to do his part, whatever _that_ was.

Kim gave him a look of assurance, telling Ron that he would contribute somehow. However, right now the best plan was to follow Mercenary's lead. Large trucks were entering into an even larger garage, and this was what Mercenary believed was the ticket inside. The four, Rufus included, slid down the rocky side, during which Ron gave something of a yelp. An irate Mercenary then put his finger firmly against Ron's lips, telling him to shut the hell up.

After Ron "got the message," they all jumped gracefully onto a truck that was moving into the garage. Kim had to help Ron, who didn't exactly make the jump, so that he wouldn't fall off the edge. Mercenary just shook his head, and Rufus growled with his arms akimbo. As soon as the driver exited the truck, Mercenary shot him in the back of the head, knocking him out.

"Okay, guys," Mercenary said, "we've got exactly three minutes before the fellow employees realize that their truck guy is not on schedule. Here's the plan: Freckles will head down the south side…" he pointed to a hallway to their left, "…while Kim and I head for the elevator. Freckles, you have to shut down the controls so I can manually override it."

Ron and Rufus gave something of a salute, and Kim said, "They won't let us down, Mercenary. I've known these two for a long time: they're reliable."

Mercenary didn't react at all: he neither nodded, nor scoffed, nor said something sarcastic. It was like he was apathetic. Kim then patted Ron on the shoulder, and he smiled and ran off to fulfill his duties. Kim returned her eyes to Mercenary and said, "Alright, let's go."

"Contingency plan?"

"Ron won't screw up!"

"Just in case, I have an ace up my sleeve. Remember where I landed? That's right outside the main air shaft opening. If something does go wrong, we grab Suboto and slide down any vent. It will lead to that exit. Otherwise, this plan should work."

Kim folded her arms and frowned.

At least I'm not the distraction, Ron thought. Or was he? Y'know, you can never tell with Mercenary. The dude does too much thinking, way too much. Whatever, Kim's all over this mission, so there's no sense in disapproving it. Ron had a job to do. At least, he thought it was a job.

He crawled on all fours along a wall with guards posted at the corners. Ron tried to slip around the corner as gracefully as he could. When he saw that he was out of the guards' peripheral vision, Ron got to his feet and ran down the hallway. He noticed several doors along the wall, but none of them interested him. Finally, he came upon "Maintenance."

"I think this is the one, buddy," Ron whispered to Rufus, who went to work on the door knob and picked the lock with his tiny hands. After the door sprang open, Rufus gave Ron's index finger a high-five, followed by a quiet but excited "booyah!" The two entered the maintenance room and looked for the controls for the elevator.

Meanwhile, the sentries that guarded the elevator yawned. Then, the door slid open and the barrels of two pistols peeked in. Before the security guys knew what was up, two blue beams hit two guards' chests and carried him to the wall. A redheaded girl flipped through the entrance and performed a splits-kick on two sentries' heads. Kim landed on her hands and sprang again at the last remaining guard.

Mercenary didn't wince as she struck. "Not bad," he said.

"What do you mean, 'not bad'?" Kim retorted indignantly.

"Think you could do that if you weren't a cheerleader?"

"Think you could do your stuff without that suit?"

"Well put."

"C'mon, let's just keep moving," Kim said as she turned towards the elevator door, which was about thirty yards away. Suddenly, the words "Danger!" flashed on Nathan's heads-up-display, and he was annoyed, "Now what?"

Mercenary felt himself be grabbed from behind and thrown violently to the side. With a loud thud, he hit the wall. Kim gasped when she heard it. No, it wasn't Mr. Spite: but a simple prisoner in an orange jumpsuit. How did he get out?

The silver hunter rubbed his head and was jolted awake by the sound of a blazing alarm. A red light flashed everywhere. Kim smacked herself in the face and left her hand there. Elsewhere, Ron was leaning on a button and listening to the alarm nervously, "Uh, was that the right one?"

"DAMN IT!" Mercenary shouted as he whipped out a pistol and shot the big prisoner several times. He quickly got to his feet and sprinted at Kim. Mercenary grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the elevator, saying "DAMN IT!" many times. He pointed his right arm forward and fired a wrist rocket at the elevator doors. It exploded loudly.

"We don't have time to wait for the elevator!" Kim pleaded, pointing to it below them.

"I'm not a patient guy anyway," Mercenary answered as he cut the elevator's wires with his force shields and sent it falling down to the bottom. Mercenary shoved Kim into the elevator shaft and jumped in after her. He held her and hovered with his jetpack. After slowly descending four floors, Mercenary made two hard slashes at the door to this floor.

He and Kim barreled through into the new hallway and returned to running. "We have to find Suboto before they put the prison in lockdown!" Mercenary yelled to Kim, who nodded. He then pointed to another door up ahead, and the two rammed into it, knocking it down. Mercenary and Kim saw that the entire prison was in a riot. Orange clad thugs ran everywhere and were followed by security guards with nightsticks.

Mercenary nudged Kim and pointed to a cell up ahead, in a line with many others. "Look! That's Suboto's cell! Maybe he hasn't been released yet!" Mercenary and Kim ran forward, pushing guard and prisoner out of their way. But before they could get to the cell, someone burst out of it riding a bus-size rocket. It was a woman who wore pilot goggles and brown cap; she had a devilishly attractive smile.

"Good to see ya again, Mercenary!" she said as she sped around the room, waving at him. Suboto was tied onto the side of her rocket. He wasn't comfortable.

"Roxy Rocket," he muttered. "I didn't know _you'd_ jump for Suboto's price on his own head."

"It keeps bread on the table, honey." She smiled again and pulled a flare gun out of her pouch. Roxy Rocket aimed it at Mercenary and soared toward him. Before he could react, she had pulled the trigger, and the flare flew at him faster than a speeding bullet. It hit him square in the chest, exploded, and caused him to grunt before the force from the explosion shoved him into the next room.

Roxy Rocket chuckled, and her rocket's thrusters boosted her through the door's entrance, making Kim duck. When Kim stood back up, she turned around, seeing that Roxy was waving at her. Kim remembered that Mercenary had just been hit and ran to him. He was covered in ceiling. "Mercenary! Are you alright!"

He grunted again, "No." When Kim helped him to his feet, Mercenary looked at her. "Find Freckles and get back to the jet."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to get Suboto."

Kim really wanted to help, but that determined look in Mercenary's eyes told her that finding Ron was more important. So, she nodded, smiled, and ran off to find her sidekick and his naked mole rat. Nathan watched her leave, wanting her to stay.

"Nathan! What's going on?" Sara's voice chimed in his helmet, "I thought you were going to slip in and out of there!"

"Someone else nabbed Suboto; must've started a riot to cover her escape."

"_Her_ escape? You're joking!" Then, after listening to nothing but Nathan's hesitation, Sara laughed, "Beaten at your own game by a woman! Ha ha! That's priceless! You're not going to kill her, are you?"

"It's Roxy Rocket."

"Oh, well, in _that_ case…"

"Shut up, Sara."

He activated his jetpack and flew through the hole in the ceiling made by his own body when Roxy hit him with a flare. Yes, he had encountered this woman before: she was, more or less, part of his competition, like Mr. Spite. Roxy wasn't nearly as good as Mercenary, but she was an interesting challenge nonetheless. Roxy's time as a stunt double didn't matter anymore to her: it wasn't nearly as fun as doing illegal stuff like this.

Nathan realized that he would have to apologize to Ron. For a second, he assumed that Ron had set off the alarm when it was actually Roxy Rocket who had started the riot. It wasn't Ron's fault and he shouldn't always be treated like a buffoon. Sure, Ron was a great guy, but Nathan didn't think that he should be on missions with Kim. Oh well, it must a best friend thing or whatever.

The thing one should know about Roxy Rocket is that she enjoyed the thrill. No, I mean, she _really_ enjoyed the thrill! There were times when it was actually orgasmic for her, and Mercenary remembered this: he was one of the few people who could keep up with her. That's why she liked him. And as Roxy let the breeze of a wind from flying 110 miles per hour cool her face, she felt a tug on the back of her rocket. When she saw Mercenary hanging by his whipcord, she grinned from ear to ear.

"I _love_ a man who can handle the speed!"

Mercenary used all of his strength to reach for the retract button on his left gauntlet. He was slowly pulled up to the rocket with Roxy. With a quick, powerful boost from his jetpack, he was sitting behind Roxy and holding on to the rocket's hull. She glanced over her shoulder, "You've got some true metal, Mercenary!"

"How many times do we have to go through this?"

Roxy laughed and repositioned her body so that she was facing the back end of the rocket, which was now on auto-pilot. "Until one of us jumps," she said with a lustful grin. Roxy took off her brown pilot coat and tossed it away. She wore a tank top underneath. Mercenary's eyes narrowed: this was a waste of time. He needed Suboto to give him information.

"Aw, don't tell me you're scared," Roxy said with a coddling voice.

"No, but _you_ should be," he muttered as he lifted his hand off the hull of the rocket. Roxy glanced down at the hull and saw that he left a small mine on it. She knew about these things: Mercenary didn't kid around. Then she felt one of Mercenary's hands grab her shoulder and the other touch her chin.

"Have your orgasm in the water," he said coldly. Mercenary pushed her off the rocket, making her scream as she fell. Roxy Rocket screamed with both pleasure and alarm as she made a loud splash into the ocean. One thing she loved about Mercenary was that he knew how to pleasure her: shoving her off a rocket going 110 miles per hour and 300 feet in the air. How _did_ he think of these things?

As Roxy's head resurfaced, she screamed, "What a man!"

Meanwhile, Mercenary used his force shields to remove the bundled-up Suboto from the side of the rocket. He and the lizard jumped off right as the vehicle exploded. Mercenary hovered with his jetpack and Suboto whimpered. There was no escaping the silver hunter this time. He carried the sick creep back to his jet by the prison.

Ron and Kim had successfully gotten out before the place was put into lockdown. Mercenary found them sitting in the lotus position and talking, supposedly about him. Mercenary groaned and threw Suboto at Kim's feet. Then, the silver hunter landed and approached the three of them. He looked at Suboto, "Now, where were we? Oh yes, you were about to answer some of my questions."

"I can not! They'll kill me!" Suboto cried.

"Who? The Jade Claw? I want to know where he is!"

Suboto gasped and started choking. Mercenary's heads-up-display went berserk. It said that someone was about to fire but someone had already fired and now someone was about to fire again. Mercenary glanced over his shoulder and saw them: Slashers. They were off in the distance, disgusting little things. Wearing all black and masked by executioners' masks and hoods, these guys crawled carrying crossbows.

As soon as the Slashers realized Mercenary had spotted them, they scurried away. "Um," Ron said, "why did he just stop crying? Or talking, for that matter?"

"He's dead."

"What!" Kim screamed, her eyes flaring at Mercenary. "What do you mean, 'he's dead'!"

"The Slashers killed him. They couldn't let him spill any information. I was afraid of this."

"So, what _now_?" Kim asked, her eyes glistening.

"I don't know," Mercenary said solemnly. "I don't know."

It was a cold night.

---

"Be careful, Kim, and pray the Slashers don't come after you."

Those were the last words that Mercenary said to Kim before he dropped her off at her house. She watched him fly away in the dark of the night. It was an odd thought: that Mercenary was now her ally. Well, "ally" was a bit of a stretched term, to be sure, but nevertheless she and Mercenary had now formed some kind of mutual relationship, good or bad.

There wasn't any use focusing on the mission now: Suboto, their supposedly only link and lead, had been killed. Kim had found one needle sticking out of his neck and another between his eyes. The Slashers were accurate. And they were anxious as well: they didn't want Suboto falling for Mercenary's "powers of persuasion." Still, Kim could appreciate the break: without a lead, it was unlikely that Mercenary was going to kill anybody any time soon, so her work was done for the moment.

Nathan Porter, meanwhile, was returning to his home in two different moods. As Mercenary, he was upset: "pissed off" was the term he would use. Suboto had kicked the bucket before he had a chance to discover _anything_. He didn't even know who was to be next up on the ladder of the Slashers. What was he going to do? The time limit on the bounty was running thin: Mercenary usually didn't take this long when it came to hunting.

As his alter ego, Nathan was glad: this gave him a chance to see Kim again and not be "all-business" with her. Nathan had come to see Kim as an angel, although he was still vacillating on the subject of her asking-him-out for some time. His relationships, few as they were, didn't last long or very well. He didn't want to hurt Kim, but Sara kept pushing for a date. He wondered if Ron was in favor of this relationship. However, Nathan knew that if anyone found out about his "other life," then no one would be in favor of it.

The moment of truth finally came in the morning of a cool April day. While Wade was researching all he could on the subject of the Jade Claw, he encouraged that Kim take some time off. Not only would finding anything on the Jade Claw take a while, but Wade believed that she deserved a break. She smiled at him as his thumbs-up faded from the kimmunicator screen. Kim took a deep breath as she saw Nathan hand in his paper for Composition Class.

She stopped him outside the classroom and gently pushed him against one of the lockers. "Yes, Kim?" he asked, "Do you want something?"

"Look," she answered, her voice slightly quivering, as if she didn't know if she was doing the right thing, "I know that we have and haven't known each other for a long time, but I think I want to help you. This is coming out all wrong. I don't mean to pressure to do anything, Nathan, but I just want to be there for you."

"I don't understand," Nathan replied matter-of-factly.

"Neither do I… completely. I don't know why I want to help you so badly, but something is drawing me to you. Believe me, I wish I could just end this and let well enough alone, but every time I get away from you, I feel terrible. Just tell me what happened: I don't like to see a friend in misery."

"Kim, I think you don't know what you're getting yourself into. I like you and all, but do you really think it could work between us? I mean, you're a cheerleader and I'm an outcast… relatively speaking. I don't play sports, I'm not that smart, and I'm definitely not popular. What could you possibly gain from a relationship with me?"

"Sometimes it's not about gaining anything… but about _giving_."

Nathan raised an eyebrow and smiled: this creature utterly fascinated him. "Alright," he said, "did you have a place in mind?"

"_Max and Erma's_, 6:00, Friday. Don't be late."

Before either of them knew it, Friday had arrived. Nathan was still unsure of this… whatever it was. He would look in the mirror, then at the television, and say that there was no way she was going out with him for his looks: not with people like that on the television. Darn that Brad Pitt. Well, whatever Kim's motives were, Nathan was determined to find them out. Hopefully, the night wouldn't be ruined by such an endeavor.

He waited for Kim outside the library of the school. 5:45, she wasn't here. He waited and waited, looked up at the dark sky. He looked at his shoes. Nathan was starting to regret wearing the blue button shirt and jeans. He must look ridiculous. Oh, what time is it! 5:46, she wasn't here. Darn it, Kim!

Then she finally pulled up and arrived. She exited the car, and Nathan was stunned. She was… stunning! Words, words, I need to think of words, Nathan thought. "Stunning" wouldn't cut it! Think of something better! She's gorgeous! No, not good enough. She's beautiful! As if _that's_ not overdone, it's not good enough. He started to sweat. Monique didn't have this type of effect on him.

"Ready?" he asked, looking at her beige tie-shrug, a fashionable top under a dark shirt. He forgot to compliment her! Well, there goes this date. Oh yeah, _what_ a gentleman. He smiled, trying not to embarrass himself. Why did Kim seem so calm? This was so weird. He shouldn't have agreed to this. He was too nervous! There was no way she would ever want to go out with him again. Oh well, Nathan thought, we're going on one date. That's enough, more than enough.

The drive to the restaurant must have sucked. Nathan knew he couldn't have been very good conversation: he was too concerned with not crashing. Now, if he had that Mercenary outfit on, he wouldn't care at all. But in this alter ego of his, Nathan Porter felt unbelievably vulnerable: vulnerable to getting in an accident, vulnerable to Kim, vulnerable to screwing up this date, vulnerable to everything. Kim asked him what classes he took; he wasn't sure if he lied or told the truth.

"My friends and I come here all the time," Kim said as she got out of Nathan's Chrysler Concord. He wasn't sure if that was a lie or a truth. From what he knew about her, Kim didn't have any close friends outside of Ron, Monique, Felix Renton… okay scratch that. But did they really come to _Max and Erma's_ all the time? Come on, Kim, draw the line somewhere.

Hoping to not run up the bill (or eat more than her), Nathan had the pita-thingy. To his surprise, there was more than just pita bread and chicken. Inside that thing were jalapeños, green spicy things, orange spicy things, and a whole bunch of stuff that he didn't even know existed. He'd been hunting people for too long. Anyway, there was no way he was going to subject himself to that type of food-abuse. Eating a jalapeño was not the best course of action.

She had the veggie burger. Nice. Cheap, easy to eat, not putting out any bad messages whatsoever. Darn it, Kim! She did it again! There she was, eating her veggie burger with scrumptiousness and beauty, not spilling or staining her face at all and _he_ couldn't even eat a pita thingy. Normally, he wouldn't even use the term "thingy" when thinking, but Kim had thrown him a major curve ball! All the green and orange stuff was falling out. Geez, what she must have thought when she saw that. No second date now, Nathan.

"Do you know Matthew Adams?" she asked while he was chewing. He didn't answer right away: his mouth was full. The last thing he wanted was to answer and spit food all over her face, so he refrained. When he had swallowed, he said (hesitatingly), "Yes. He and I don't talk much, though. So I don't know him that well."

"Well, who are your friends besides me and Ron?"

"I get along with Josh Mankey."

Bad move, majorly bad move, Nathan. Just by Kim's expression, Nathan learned that the "Josh Mankey" answer was not good at all. He didn't really know about her previous crush on him, but bringing him up again was not a good move at all. This date officially sucked. Nathan had ruined it, he thought. There was no way _any_ girl would want to continue now. Not that there was any point, but he tried to save himself by changing the subject.

As far as he was concerned, the date was already ruined, so he might as well come right out with it. He took a deep breath and said, "What I want to know, Kim, is: why did you want to go out with me in the first place? Are you under some kind of delusion that you can fit everything that isn't perfect? Is that why you go on these missions and fight blue-skinned evil geniuses and save little villages from avalanches? If that's the case, you don't love, you _need_. That's why you're going out with me now.

"I'm an ass," he continued, "I'm not great looking; I'm not charming; I'm not even nice. I prefer to be by myself instead of playing sports. I'm rude and sarcastic to everybody, that's why people don't like me. I'm selfish and I lie to get what I want. I lie to everybody, and I talk people into doing things for me. I don't think about anyone but myself. What I am is what you need: I'm damaged."

There, he said it. Nathan had just blown any chance that he ever had with Kim. Sure, he wanted one, but what he wanted more was for her not to get hurt. He couldn't let her find out about Mercenary. This way, it wasn't anything she found out: it was something he told her. Any other girl would have left right then, but Kim just sat there, staring at him. Nathan sat there too, slightly anxious. Her hesitation meant that she would slap him. But she didn't.

"Aren't you going to slap me or something?"

There was no reply. Kim didn't flinch. Nathan became increasingly nervous. Please say something, he thought. Her beautiful face just looked at him, her eyes glistening, like she had been hurt. Nathan squinted: half of him regretting "opening up" like that, and half of him didn't. Kim would understand. She had to. He was stopping her from making a huge mistake, right? Yes, he was better off alone. That's what everybody wanted.

Kim Possible defied everything and leaned across the table. She kissed him! Nathan's eyes were wide with surprise. What the hell was she doing! Oh yeah, she was nuts. Who the heck would do that after hearing a schpeal like the one he just gave? He fell into the moment and enjoyed their lips touching. Carly Simon's "Nobody Does it Better" played in the background.

She finally started to pull away gently. When she looked at him again, his eyes were closed. Kim smiled: she had made an impact. "How's that for an answer?" she asked.

The rest of the night…? Does it matter?

---

I wish I could say that _Max and Erma's_ was the only time Nathan and Kim went out. It would make this story a lot easier if I did. As happy as these two were, their relationship was in for it. It was destined to go down a rocky road. But for now, when neither knew a thing about the other, everything was nice. Yes, "nice" is the best term.

Nathan had opted to spend some time with Kim at Borders, the bookstore. There the two sat on couch. Kim watched as he read through some of those superhero comic books. He was reading "Ultimate X-Men" this time. Strangely, Kim didn't find that pathetic. Nathan was constantly perplexed by Kim's actions and her affection. Still, Kim was the best thing to happen to him in a long time. Scratch that, Kim was the best thing that happened to Nathan _ever_.

He started touching his eyes. Kim looked concerned, "What's wrong?"

"Oh," he said, "it's nothing. I wear contact lenses. They act up now and then."

"I've never had to wear corrective lenses. What's it like?"

"It sucks, a little. I have to take these out every night. Without them, I'm practically blind. Everything's a blur. Oh, don't worry, they don't hurt: they were a little irritating at the beginning, but now I'm used to them. What about you, anything corrected? Should I have to ask?"

"Well, I did wear braces at one time. Boy, those years were hard." Kim rested her head on her hand, remembering the weird times. This time, Nathan was concerned, so _he_ asked a question.

"Ron's cool with this?"

"Nathan, Ron and I are best friends. That's all we've ever been. He was a little worried about me asking you out, but once he met and spent time with you, he changed his mind. That's weird, isn't it? We judge people too much. It's not a good thing that society puts on us today."

Nathan sighed, "I'm guilty of that, and I don't like myself for it. But you're right. We do judge people too much. We should give them more of a chance."

"It worked with you."

"Oh, so are you done with me now?"

"Don't count on it," she laughed as she pulled him into another kiss. After five seconds, he pulled away.

"I'm _serious_, Kim. Now that I've opened up (sort of), what's next? Where do you and I go from here?"

Kim smiled again. He loved that smile. But she didn't have an answer for him. Guess they should just live in the moment for some more, huh? Yeah, that was the plan. Nathan and Kim left the Borders Book Store and, getting into his Chrysler Concord, exited the parking lot. Nathan's Concord was dark green, and Kim admired it as she rested her elbow on the window ledge.

Suddenly, something was wrong. Kim and Nathan could feel it in the air. It wasn't anything about their relationship: it was something else entirely. The wind felt thicker somehow, like it was blowing in a direction it wasn't supposed to. Nathan glanced in the mirror on his left and spotted a black helicopter flying against the dark night sky. It was following them. Then, he noticed instinctively two trucks speed up behind them. They were black too.

"_Be careful, Kim, and pray the Slashers don't come after you."_

He felt totally stupid for saying that to Kim. Now she would be freaked out: not what he wanted. So, he pressed down a little harder on the gas pedal, speeding up. Kim felt a slight tug on the car, aside from already feeling weird about the air and wind. "Why did you speed up?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh, I'm just anxious, I guess."

"Well, don't get us killed."

Believe me, Kim, I wasn't going to that at all, he thought. The Slashers were following them now. It wasn't good. Well, considering how bad the situation was before, it must have escaladed when Kim felt something zing past her arm. "Hey!" she cried, "What was that?"

"What?" Nathan asked.

"Something grazed past my arm!" She glanced out the window and to the back of the car, seeing a black helicopter come closer and closer to the road. Kim gasped as she realized what it was. "How did they find me!" she screamed.

"Who?" Nathan asked.

"The Slashers!" she explained quickly, "They're a group of drug dealers, bitter ones. I was involved in a mission that shut them down: well, partially. We have to get out of here!"

"Hang on!" Nathan cried as he gripped the steering wheel tightly. With a sharp turn to the left, Nathan made the Concord turn onto a road that headed next to a large building: the mall. The helicopter descended closer to the car, making Nathan more nervous. He wasn't in a position to fight these guys. Kim had made him vulnerable, but he had never suspected that the Slashers found out his secret. No, they were after her.

Luckily for Kim, she was with Mercenary, though she didn't know it. He gently pulled down on the right side of the wheel, making the vehicle slowly turn right off the road. The two trucks behind them closed in. "They want me," Kim said, getting out of the car while it was still moving, "I'll take care of it!"

"No! Stay in the car! I'll get us out of this!"

Nathan grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the car, finding some trouble maintaining control of the Concord's steering at the same time. He swerved slightly on the road. Doing that gave him an idea. He quickly started driving the car on the left side of the road, making Kim scream, "You're on the wrong side!"

"I know!" he said with half-confidence. He had never tried this before without his armor. This could end badly. When he saw the headlights of an oncoming car and the Slashers' truck pull up along side him, Nathan set forth his plan. The oncoming car honked, but Nathan didn't move yet. In fact, he never moved. The oncoming car's driver must have freaked out, because he changed lanes and hit the Slashers' truck that was along side Nathan, knocking it off the road and down a very steep hill.

Kim and Nathan were both scared out of their skin when a rather frightening member of the Slashers landed on the hood of the Concord. He must have jumped down from the helicopter! Kim had screamed and Nathan had stiffened his arms at the sight of him. The Slasher looked like a terrible specter of legend, its tattered black cloak flowing in the wind and its terrible beady eyes set on the couple. With a sudden movement, Nathan yanked the car to the right side of the road again, causing the member of the Slashers to slide off the car, be run over by the truck following, and make that truck topple over.

"Quick!" Kim said, "Into the woods!"

"Are you sure?" he asked, a tone of doubt in his voice. Obviously, Kim was sure, so he did it anyway. Nathan swerved and swiveled to avoid tree after tree. Man, there were a lot of trees. Apparently, Kim's plan was to have Nathan turn off his headlights, thus making the helicopters lose them in this maze of lumber. However, Nathan had a better idea.

He had seen Kim use her grappler hair dryer on her missions, and this was a very handy item. Nathan planned that Kim would aim the device and send the grapple, hoping that it would hit somewhere important: like the helicopter's tail. He would then tell Kim to throw her hair dryer gadget at a tree. The device would get caught between the branches, yanking the helicopter down and making it explode upon impact with the ground.

However, if he wanted his strategic alter ego to remain secret, Nathan would have to remain silent and resist the urge to exercise his mind. It was quite a tough habit to break, that's for sure. After waiting several seconds, Nathan started to worry that Kim wouldn't come up with a decent plan, and he would have to blow his cover by revealing his plan of attack. Come on, Kim, he thought, _think_ of something!

Finally, she did, "My laser lipstick!" And with that, she leaned out the window and pointed her hands forward. Kim squinted as she pointed the lipstick at the chopper. It was, needless to say, difficult to aim because of the bumpy ride. After a few seconds of concentration, Kim pushed the button. A tiny beam of red light split through the air and sliced off the helicopter's tail.

"Floor it!" she screamed.

Nathan obeyed, seeing her sudden case of distress: the helicopter was slowly falling forward, toward them! True, it wasn't as well thought-up as his own plan, but Nathan was surprised to see that Kim cared about him enough to get him out of a tight situation. Also, she took charge and didn't depend on him: she was _determined_ to save him. For the first time, Nathan truly saw that in her. She really was a heroine. When the helicopter sliced its way through the trees of the woods, it finally reached the ground and exploded upon contact. The Chrysler Concord was rocked and shoved forward from the explosive force. The car barely stayed on the ground, let alone on four wheels. Finally, there was a silence in the air, and the car came to a stop.

Nathan and Kim got out and embraced each other.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes. You?"

"Uh-huh. Does everyone who goes out with you get such a 'good time,' or just me?"

Kim smiled and kissed him. The night breeze cooled their faces. Kim liked the cold: it was comforting.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Physically, Nathan Porter's most attractive quality was his voice. True, that was an odd choice, but it was what Kim found most delightful. The way it sounded was just entrancing, so to speak. It was deep and soft and kind and determined, all at the same time. His voice disillusioned anyone who heard it come from that mouth. The face did not match the resonating tone. That made him sound years ahead of his time. Kim loved it.

Nathan was a "leg man." He wasn't particularly interested in breasts or stomachs or butts: legs interested him the most. He knew not why, but they did. Still, besides her otherwise perfect legs, Nathan loved everything about Kim. Sure, her voice got a little nasal at times, and that cheerleader-captain attitude wasn't cool every second of the day, but he was still overjoyed that someone found him likable, to say the least. Kim had gone where Monique didn't.

And because of that, Kim had to let Monique know what was going on. She was Kim's friend, and Kim owed her that much. Yes, it would be remarkably difficult to put it into words, and she wished that Nathan would be the one to do it, but it was Kim herself that volunteered to take this leap of faith. It was quite a leap indeed. Kim found Monique sitting on a bench outside of a Club Banana shop reading a Club Banana catalogue. She had hoped that her expression would give it away. It didn't.

"What's up, Kim?"

"Monique," Kim began softly as she sat down next to her friend, "I have something to tell you."

"Obviously."

"No, listen, it's important. Look, we've, uh, known each other for a long time and I don't want to keep anything from you. I want to be a good friend."

"You _are_ a good friend, Kim."

"What you're about to hear might convince you otherwise," she replied uneasily. Kim wished Nathan was here. "Here's the thing: I hope you don't get mad or anything, but…" Kim took a big gulp, "…Nathan and I are seeing each other."

---

Quiet nights are never good, Mercenary thought. Well, sometimes they were, but most of the time they were not. So, saying "never" was a fair assumption, but if one were to base his or her logic on technicalities… ugh, it's better not to even go into that. Mercenary stood atop a rooftop overlooking several warehouses down by the docks of Middleton. He had almost forgotten everything with his recent "activities" with Kim.

Nathan had thought about quitting this job more than once. Kim was getting to him. However, when he would remember why he began doing this, he quickly dismissed resignation. He was not only bound to this, but he had made something of a promise. This whole issue with the Jade Claw was just stuff to keep him occupied and strengthen his reputation. His enemies would fear him even more, and he wanted to remain in that position.

This lead wasn't a very good one, but it was a lead nonetheless. As he had suspected, Mr. Spite had survived their last encounter and was at it again. For some reason, he was still working with the Slashers. It didn't make any sense to Mercenary. Suboto was dead, why remain employed? One could suppose that the Slashers were paying Mr. Spite, as opposed to the late Suboto handing out paychecks.

Mr. Spite was always a pain in the ass. There was no other way to put it. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy when Mercenary took his spot as the top dog, so to speak. But Mr. Spite had no one to blame but himself: he didn't seize the opportunities that Mercenary had used to make himself successful and reputable. What Mr. Spite really hated was that Mercenary always found a way to tip the odds in his favor: he always upgraded himself or something. Genuine strength didn't work anymore, not that Mr. Spite's strength was genuine.

Anyway, Mercenary had known that Mr. Spite would survive, and therefore he tracked the brute, hoping to discover someone higher up on the Slashers' list of scum. What Mercenary feared was that Mr. Spite would go looking for a new employer, someone completely separate from the Slashers. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how one saw it), he did neither. But, Mr. Spite did return to a Slashers' outpost, so this was still a good thing.

Just as Mercenary had expected, Kim had got his message and joined him. She had, apparently, given Ron the night off and decided to go on this mission with Mercenary alone. The silver hunter quickly filled her in on the recent turn of events: Spite's return to the Slashers' facility. "I'm not sure we'll find anything in there," Mercenary told Kim, "but it's the only lead we've got." Kim nodded and gestured that they should proceed.

Kim held onto Mercenary as he slowly lifted off the rooftop. The jetpack carried the two of them until Mercenary landed on the rounded roof of the warehouse. Kim peeked in a ceiling window. "They're, like, organizing death drugs or something," she said.

"Why is Spite still working for these guys?" Mercenary asked in reply. "Oh well," he continued, "the direct approach presents answers too."

Mercenary and Kim burst through the sunroof ceiling window and, through the shattering sound of glass breaking, landed in the middle of a bunch of angry Slashers. Mr. Spite grinned upon seeing Mercenary. Unlike some of the other villains Kim had encountered, Mr. Spite didn't crack a "nice of you to _drop_ in" pun, which got annoying after a while. It wasn't exactly a break in the supervillain tradition, because the attacks from Mr. Spite would more than make up for it.

"Mercenary," Mr. Spite said maliciously and calmly, "I wish I could say I'm surprised you're here. Too bad about Suboto, yes? You were so close."

"Why are you wasting your time with these guys, Spite? You could be getting a bigger payoff if you wanted one."

"By going after the Jade Claw? That's where you're wrong. I guarantee you won't catch him." The brute looked at Kim, then back at Mercenary, "You'll find that distractions can't be overlooked."

"What exactly are you doing here?" Kim asked, posing for an attack.

Mr. Spite cracked his knuckles, chuckling, "The drug business is a competitive one. The Slashers, if they want to remain intact, have to sabotage or steal from their competitors. I'm helping with that. Besides, the Slashers are giving me something that money can not."

"What's that?" Mercenary inquired coldly.

Mr. Spite smiled, "Another crack at you, Mercenary."

And with that he growled and ran at the silver hunter. Kim jumped in front of Spite to stop him, but he smacked her away. Just as Kim was smacked away, Mercenary was already flying fast at Mr. Spite. He pulled upwards and uppercut the brute in the chin, making Mr. Spite grunt. However, Spite was ready and grabbed Mercenary's ankle before he could get away.

Mr. Spite slammed Mercenary so hard on the floor that it practically shook the whole warehouse. It also roused Kim who, after seeing Mercenary severely hurt again, screamed and ran after Mr. Spite. The spiked giant was definitely irritated at this point: he could never get two seconds alone with either one of them. One had to always jump in for the other. Oh well, he thought, his strength could handle both of them at the same time.

As Kim jumped onto his arm, Mr. Spite grabbed her face and held her aloft. "Now, I'll throw you to the dogs!" He tossed her over to a horde of Slashers, who eagerly waited to tear something apart. Kim gasped as she fell in the middle of the circle they formed: there was an enemy in every direction. Meanwhile, Nathan groaned and clutched his rib. He struggled to get to his feet, but Mr. Spite wasn't going to allow him to do that.

With deep and hoarse laughter, Spite punched Mercenary left and right. He was finally getting his revenge! After every punch thrown at Mercenary's gut or face, Spite screamed triumphantly, "I hate you! I _hate_ you! Now, you die!" The silver hunter thus was not given a second to recover; blow after blow kept him down and defenseless. The hardest hit came when Spite grabbed Mercenary's head and thrust his knee at it.

No longer would this boy be more successful than he was. Mr. Spite had gone through so much transformation: he had given up so much. And now, because a kid bought some fancy technology and equipment, that kid was better? No! Never again! Mr. Spite was the strongest! He was the best! Mercenary was going to die by his hands, and he was going to die _now_!

Kim was, needless to say, having a considerable amount of trouble with all these Slashers. Not only were they really creepy to look at (with those faceless masks and black hoods), but they were pretty formidable in large numbers. Also, Kim kept diverting her attention to Mercenary, to see if he was okay. She worried more each time Spite struck him across the face. Finally, Kim decided that she had to put an end to this.

She leapt as high as she could into the air and drew her grappling hair dryer. With it, she aimed at the wall. Just as she landed on a forklift driven by a member of the Slasher, Kim pulled the trigger. Kim then kicked the hooded crony in the face, making him fall against the steering wheel and go full speed in his unconsciousness. The forklift acted as a bowling ball to a bunch of pins: the Slashers. They screamed as the vehicle rammed and pinned them to the wall.

Spite laughed. Mercenary was ticked off now: that laugh was seriously annoying. Okay, you had your fun, Mercenary thought. Now it was time to settle this. Throughout his career as a hunter, Mercenary had never had a conclusive battle with Mr. Spite: there was seemingly no way to kill the knuckle-head. This time was no exception. Mr. Spite couldn't be destroyed, but he could be defeated. In the midst of Mr. Spite's hoarse cackling, Nathan looked up.

He spotted a large steel crate hanging from the ceiling. Mercenary slowly pulled out a pistol and shouted "Catch!" to Spite, who stopped laughing in confusion. The blast hit the chain with perfect accuracy and the crate fell. Mr. Spite grunted as he caught it, "You actually thought that this would kill me?"

"No," Mercenary said as he pointed his right fist at Spite and fired a wrist rocket. The projectile hit the brute square in the chest, making him drop the crate on himself and cry out in pain. Nathan was shoved back from the force of the explosion, and Kim had to shield her eyes. After the smoke had cleared, Kim saw Mercenary and ran to him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm… fine," he grunted, staggering to his feet.

Mercenary brushed himself off and leaned on Kim. "You're hurt," she said with concern.

"I'm fine," he assured her again, "Remember, my suit heals bruises and small wounds. I'm just a little sore, that's all."

"Okay," she said, relieved. "But what now?"

Mercenary limped over to a heap of boxes, "Spite said that the Slashers are trying to raise the competition and sabotage their competitors."

"Yeah, so?"

Mercenary inspected the boxes. Several of them had labels. There were two that stood out: one called "Tubba" and another called "Clay Chemicals."

"So," Mercenary replied, "if the Slashers are able to get some stuff on other organizations, their competitors have information on the Slashers."

"You think the competition knows where the Jade Claw is?"

Mercenary didn't acknowledge her. He turned away, saying, "Sara, I need any and all information on 'Clay Chemicals' and someone called 'Tubba.'"

"Both are major competitors of the Slashers, although Tubba is the fiercer rival."

"Any way a meeting could be arranged?"

"Not for Clay Chemicals," Sara answered, "But Tubba's been having some trouble with a monster truck driver. Reward is fifty thousand on delivery. You bag this one and you'll get an immediate audience with Tubba. Clay Chemicals is more a mystery, though."

Mercenary turned back to Kim and said, "You see what you find on Clay Chemicals. I'll hunt down this guy for Tubba."

"Oh sure," Kim raised an eyebrow, "_you_ get to have all the fun."

---

And the two set out again. It wasn't quite like the attack on Suboto's compound, but it was similar nonetheless. Kim wasted no time in contacting Wade to let her know anything on Clay Chemicals. She wanted to be one step ahead of Mercenary this time: if she happened to find something out about the Jade Claw's location, she would be able to stop Mercenary from possibly killing him.

As Mercenary watched Kim run off, just like she did last time, Nathan wished he could go with her. He didn't want her to get hurt. Oh well, Kim could handle herself. She was doing that long before she had met Mercenary. So, he put the issue to bed and focused on the task at hand: the job for Tubba. Nathan got into the pilot seat of his jet and took off.

"Motor Ed," Sara said on the jet's monitor screen, "a muscle bound mullet man who specializes in all things relating to cars, stole a precious piece of equipment from Tubba, who has been wanting it back for weeks."

The screen showed an image of the one called Motor Ed. He was a tall, well-built man with a very long mullet of the dirty blond color. A mustache and goatee combination was sported on his "dude whatever" face. Sara continued, "Don't underestimate him, Nathan. Motor Ed is smarter than he looks."

"Fine," he replied, "where is he located?"

"Always with the locations, what is it with you? I'm just teasing, Nathan. Motor Ed is currently based in an abandoned monster truck scrap-yard: the perfect environment for him."

"Will he be expecting me?"

"I suppose so. You wouldn't be the first one to go after Tubba's Slysphere."

"Slysphere?"

"That's the piece of equipment that Motor Ed stole," Sara explained, "it's supposed to act as a rabid power source for any type of machinery."

Nathan grinned and pushed the thrusters forward, making his jet fly considerably faster. He spotted the spotlights that signaled the abandoned scrap yard, base of Motor Ed. Blood started flowing inside Nathan: he wanted that information, and it had eluded him far too long. Motor Ed was just a detour, a detour that needed to be dealt with.

The jet flew over the scrap yard, and Mercenary exited right as it did. He fell quick and gracefully into the middle of the arena. The jetpack on his back slowed him down enough to where he didn't feel anything from the landing. However, Motor Ed was there, and a little surprised to see someone in his territory. "Dude, are you lost?"

"Not particularly. I'm here for the Slysphere."

"Dude," Motor Ed said, coming out of the shadows, "there is, like, no way you're getting the ultra-rippin' most totally awesome Slysphere. Seriously."

"Well, I could _take_ it from you."

"Boys!" Motor Ed called out, "This little squirt wants to play rough, seriously. I've heard about you, Mercenary. You're pretty good, seriously. When's Tubba going to learn? There's no one who can bring me down! Seriously!"

Mercenary stood up and looked around. He was surrounded by oil-stained blue collar flunkies carrying wrenches and power drills. It was nothing he couldn't handle, but the numbers of his enemies always irritated him. This is a waste of my talent, he thought. However, the bravado of Motor Ed made him that much more interested in taking his clown down.

With a minute, he heard a "Get him, boys!" and the danger signal on his HUD started blazing madly. He recognized where the little electronic arrow on his mask's screen pointed and, getting ready, ducked. A bearded bald man swung a wrench at him wildly but missed terribly. Thrusting his elbow into the man's gut, Mercenary dispatched the attacker, surprising Ed, who had never seen Mercenary in action.

"You're making it more difficult," Mercenary said simply.

"Dude! He's scared! Seriously!"

"…_Difficult_ to decide whether to kill you and your goons."

At the sound of this, Motor Ed frowned, roared, and charged at Mercenary. But it was merely a ploy, because three of the other metal-heads were about to get him from the back. It wasn't anything Mercenary didn't see, however, because his HUD warned him of it. He dodged one of them and picked him up, throwing him at the other two. But was it a ploy? Despite the warnings, Motor Ed managed to whack Mercenary with a giant wrench, sending the silver hunter into a pile of crushed cars.

The mullet man cheered wildly and got into one of the monster trucks. He revved up the engine, put in gear, and stepped on the gas pedal. When Mercenary came to, he saw that a huge truck was speeding directly at him! He rolled to the left, and Motor Ed's monster truck barreled right through the pile of cars. Mercenary whipped around, fired his whip cord at the truck, and was pulled along with it. He skidded off the ground until he finally used his jetpack to fly into the air.

Still attached to the fast-moving truck, Mercenary boosted to where he swung around to the front of the car, landing on the hood and surprising Motor Ed. Mercenary activated his force shields, but before he could strike at the windshield, a toolbox flew through the air and knocked Mercenary off the truck's hood. Immediately, Motor Ed's gang piled on top of Mercenary, trying to pin him down. They didn't know about his electric defense mechanism.

---

Wade had informed Kim that Clay Chemicals wasn't officially involved in drug business, but it was still worth looking into. He told her that there were multiple factories and outposts all over the city, but the largest one was underwater. There was a warehouse that held a secret entrance into this underwater facility, so Wade urged Kim to take that route. "Okay, Wade," she said as she entered the warehouse, "I'm in. Lead the way."

"You'll find a large ventilation shaft at the far end of the house, take it."

Kim nodded and complied, working her way past the boxes and crates. Before she reached the entrance to the shaft, however, she fell through a secret trap door a few feet from it. Screaming from surprise, Kim noticed that ventilation fans were spinning at terrible speeds, ready to cut her up into little pieces. She quickly got out her grappler and shot it at the ceiling.

She was stopped a yard from the swirling blades. Exhaling, Kim spotted a small passage way off to the left. She swung slowly on the rope of her grapple to reach it. "Um, Wade?" she asked, "Where am I?"

"You got a little sidetracked, I see," he said in a worried tone. "Uh, I think there's still a way out of this. Oh! Use the laser lipstick in your backpack!"

"For what?"

"Cut the fan's blades."

"And fall down the hole?"

"Yep."

"You really need to get out more."

"Why?"

"Having the will to fall down a bottomless pit is easier said than done."

"Really?"

Kim sighed and reached into her backpack. Pulling out the gadget, she did as Wade had suggested. Then, taking a deep breath, Kim let out a shrill scream as she fell down into the dark hole. She screamed a little louder when he saw the bottom: a caged opening. She crashed right through it, but it didn't hurt. Perhaps all the fans in this place eased her drop.

She walked forward and passed through two sliding doors of metal into a much larger room: oh yeah, _way_ larger. It was a glass room with a very high ceiling. It was also beautiful, though, because it gave a unique feeling of being underwater. The way the light from the water's surface (which was easily two hundred leagues up) was just stunning. This place should be a tourist attraction, Kim thought. But then she remembered her mission.

Kim ran forward through another pair of sliding automatic doors. However, this time, she was caught. Two metal claws sprouted from the walls and grabbed her hands. She was pulled forward and forced her to her knees. In the center of the room, a chamber opened up and a man ascended from it. "Hmm," he said eloquently, "it seems we have an intruder. Eh, Junior?"

---

Mercenary brushed himself off of electrocuted bodies. Motor Ed was really angry now. "Okay, dude, you are going down! Seriously!" he roared again and ran forward, swinging a sledge hammer at Mercenary. The silver hunter caught it before it could strike, however, and pulled it away. Motor Ed was suddenly nervous, but then the mullet man had an idea.

He ran over to a large hose and whipped it at Mercenary, tying him up. Then, laughing, Motor Ed threw some kind of metal disc at Mercenary, and it stuck to him. Motor Ed turned on the magnet, and Mercenary was yanked up to it. Darn, Nathan thought, he's smarter than he looks. "I told you, man," Ed said, "There ain't nobody who can bring this lion and his mane down! Seriously!"

Motor Ed then proceeded to perform an air guitar movement, saying "yeah, yeah, yeah" every time he brought his hand up and down. Mercenary sighed and started to struggle. Motor Ed noticed this and protested, "Dude, what are you doing? You can't break free from that magnet! It's at fifty plus megawatts surplus on the transmitter based energy flocculation particle filter! Seriously!"

"I'm annoyed," Mercenary said as he broke free, "SERIOUSLY!"

The silver hunter flew down to Motor Ed and, before the mullet man could react, shot him several times in the chest. Landing in front of Motor Ed, Mercenary made a fierce uppercut, sending Motor Ed high into the air and crashing into a pile of tools. But Motor Ed wasn't down for the count yet. He pulled out a remote control that made two monster trucks ambush Mercenary, attempting to crash into him from his left and right sides.

Mercenary boosted with his jetpack at just the right second, avoiding the attack. Motor Ed whimpered, got up, and ran away. As he ran, Motor Ed felt a hard tug on the back of his long hair. Mercenary had gripped his mullet. "No, dude!" Motor Ed pleaded, "Not the mullet! Not the lion's mane! Please!"

Ed was down on his knees and looked up at Mercenary, who asked, "Seriously?"

"Serious—"

Mercenary socked him across the face. He then exhaled deeply and walked over to a gold-painted monster truck and pulled the Slysphere out of the engine. Tossing it up and down, Mercenary hoped that this would be worth the trouble. Now it was time to pay Tubba a visit.

---

"Señor Senior Senior?" Kim asked in utter confusion, "You're behind Clay Chemicals?"

"Please," he replied, waving his hand at her, "Here I am called 'Hank Clay.' And to answer your question, yes, I am. I need to have some income coming in, do I not?"

"Why is Kim Possible even here?" Señor Senior Junior said anxiously as he looked at his filed nails, "We have not done anything wrong, Father."

"Yes, my son, you bring up a good point. Why exactly are you here, Ms. Possible?"

"Well, Mister _Clay_," Kim answered in a mocking tone, "I'm looking for someone called the Jade Claw. Do you know him?"

"The leader of the Slashers? I have not heard about him for years. I did not know he was active again."

Señor Senior Senior stroked the chin of his Spanish-born face. His accent, which matched his apparel of a Hispanic billionaire, was immediately recognizable by Kim. Señor Senior Senior leaned on an expensive cane, his right hand moving from his chiseled chin to his slicked gray hair. "I do not associate myself with such scum," he said at last, "but you might want to check with the one called 'Tubba.' He has been known to keep tabs on his enemies."

Kim sighed, "Great."

"Now, Kim Possible, I must destroy you."

"What!"

"You've seen too much, my dear. I can't let you ruin this operation just yet. By the way, how did you learn about my location?"

Kim smirked, "Wade's got connections."

"Now how did he—?" he smacked himself in the face, "Junior! Have you been on the internet chat rooms again?"

During Señor Senior Senior's scolding of his tanned and muscular son, Kim Possible used the time to get free from the claws that held her down. Pulling with everything she had, she broke one and then the other. Señor Senior Sr. gasped, "No! She must not escape!"

Kim ran back into to the large glass room with the great view and, hoping to get away quicker, swung across with her grapple. However, this meant that she had shot her grapple at the ceiling. When Kim pulled it out, Señor Senior Sr. gasped again. The entire ceiling shattered, sending in a flood of water! Kim hurried out the door and shot her grapple up the shaft she fell from.

Anxiously waiting for the grapple to reach the top, Kim bit her lip upon sight of the water rushing to her. She finally felt it and the grapple yanked her upwards just before the water hit her. She exhaled with relief, but a sudden case of worry struck her mind. If Señor Senior Sr. didn't know where the Jade Claw was, that meant that Tubba did.

---

A morbidly obese man sat on a huge chair, chewing gum. He inhaled deeply and said, "Is the reward satisfactory?"

"Hardly."

"No? What kind of mercenary are you? What else do you want?"

"Information," Mercenary said grimly.

"I'm not in the information business."

"I never thought so, Tubba, but you might be able to help me with something."

"And that is?"

"The Jade Claw."

Tubba smiled, "You are a most strange person, Mercenary. You've got guts. I like that. Yes, the Jade Claw and I were once partners, but after our separation, I still kept tabs on the Jade Claw."

"I'd like to know the location of the Jade Claw."

"That location has changed, Mercenary."

"Does that make a difference?" Mercenary asked, sounding confident in Tubba's tab-keeping skills.

Tubba smirked again, "You impress me, Mercenary. Not many people can do that. As a thank you for returning my Slysphere, I will give you the address of the Jade Claw. It's only _certain_ for one night, though: tomorrow night."

Mercenary nodded and turned around, leaving. Tubba cleared his throat, and Mercenary glanced over his shoulder. "One more thing," Tubba said in an amused voice, "make sure you say 'hello' from me."

"Sure."

---

Kim was late. She had completely forgotten that she promised to meet Nathan under the Middleton clock tower. She was two hours late. Running in the pouring rain didn't help her get there any faster, but Kim sprinted as fast as she could. She couldn't believe that she was so late: she couldn't let him down. Her feet splashed through puddles as she almost slipped.

Spotting the clock tower, Kim pushed harder, sprinting as fast she could. Her hair was completely soaked, and her clothes had suffered a similar fate. She felt like she was the only one outside tonight. There was no noise but the rain and the splish-splosh of a redhead cheerleader running through muddy puddles. She wiped back the rain from her eyes, as it blurred her vision slightly.

Arriving at the foot of the clock tower, Kim looked around. There wasn't another person in sight. She figured that no one would stay for two hours past the time when they were supposed to meet. She blew it. Nathan left. Kim slammed her fist against the wall of the tower, sunk to her knees, and started to cry. The rain splattered upon her head and back as she clinched her fists tightly.

Then she felt that she was not alone. Looking up, she saw that Nathan had appeared from behind the tower's alley. Kim leapt up and embraced him. He hugged her tightly, and the two kissed, the rain falling between their foreheads. Before long, Nathan was terribly soaked too. Kim smiled at him, wiped her eyes, and whispered only a few words. She remembered them from a long time ago.

"You're still here?" she asked, a smile forming across her lips as she uttered the words.

"I'm still here," he said back to her.

---

In the penthouse apartment of a building in Tri City, all was quiet. It was a quiet night: there were a lot of those nowadays. A woman slept in the apartment's bedroom: she was calm and placated. Nothing bothered her tonight. There was no rain, no loud noises, no honking horns, no wailing sirens, and no whirling helicopters. She might actually get some sleep.

Shego had taken some time off from Drakken. Sure, she planned on breaking him out of his incarceration sooner or later. Either way, it wasn't right now. Now was the time for relaxation. Besides, Shego thought she deserved a break from that idiot. Drakken wasn't always a brilliant mind; in fact, he was downright stupid at times. Her light, pale-green skin brushed against the covers of the bed. It was soft.

She rubbed her own shoulders in an effort to comfort herself. Although she wanted to be away from Drakken, Shego didn't want to be alone. Like any other young woman, she had wanted someone to be there for her. Now, she was alone. Drakken certainly wasn't her soul mate, but Shego was seriously wondering if she even had a "soul mate" at all. She wasn't exactly the most dedicated person and wasn't exactly sure if she could love anyone. Shego had always been somewhat independent.

Her pitch dark green colored hair moved slowly against the pillow. All it took was a mere second to ruin her night. A simple rustle from the window told her she wasn't alone. Shego gasped and sat up, staring into the dark. The moonlight shed some light on the room, but it wasn't enough to see anything. Her breathing became shallow, like she was anxious. Shego felt quite vulnerable there, lying in bed wearing nothing but a small, tight nightgown.

Shego got out of bed and walked over to the window and closed it. She rubbed her forehead. A sudden chill ran down her spine. It wasn't something she felt: it was something she heard. Just simple words and simple sounds gave her sheer terror as she stood. "What were you dreaming about?" a raspy, cold voice asked.

"Not you," she answered harshly.

"Too bad."

"What do you want, freak?"

Mercenary walked into the light. "Know anyone called the Jade Claw?"

Shego remained silent.

"I must say, Shego," Mercenary went on, "I'm impressed. Here I thought you ran to Drakken as soon as you turned to evil. I had no idea you ran a shady operation. How long did it go on for? Oh, you don't have to answer; you don't even have to admit it. Your silence tells me everything. You know, those Slashers absolutely worship you. They treat you like a goddess: well, actually, a god, because everyone assumes you're a 'he.'"

"So, which will it be: dead or alive, Mercenary?"

"I haven't decided yet." He lifted up his two pistols, aiming at her. Shego took a couple of steps backwards, increasing the distance between them across the room. Two shots rang out in the night, and Shego winced. When she realized that she was still alive, she looked at herself.

"You missed," she said plainly.

"Actually," Mercenary said, grinning under the mask, "I didn't."

It wasn't long before Shego realized what he had really shot at. The straps on Shego's broke and the nightgown fell to her ankles, revealing Shego's nude body. She gasped and growled with anger as she covered herself as best she could. Mercenary chuckled slightly.

"You'll regret that, Mercenary," Shego said as she grabbed a chair and flung it at him. He shot at it, but the chair still came at him and knocked him to the ground. Shego, with the few seconds she had, ran into the bathroom and wrapped herself in a bright green towel. She had to flare up her hands with green plasma to be ready to attack Mercenary, who had already gotten to his feet.

Shego dove at Mercenary, grabbing his pistols as she tackled him to the ground. They wrestled there for a moment, until Mercenary shoved an elbow into her face. Shego was knocked back but still able to fight. She thrust forward her left hand and shot a beam of plasma at Mercenary, blasting him through the window and out of the apartment. He quickly shot his whipcord at the ledge and pulled himself back to the terrace.

Before Mercenary could complete his pull, Shego flared up her hand again and cut the whipcord. Mercenary instead activated his jetpack and propelled himself at Shego, tackling her fiercely. They landed against the wall, and Mercenary pinned her to the bed. She struggled to get free, and finally did by thrusting her knee in a certain spot between Mercenary's legs, causing him a spiking amount of pain. Shego flipped onto her feet and roundhouse-kicked the silver hunter's face.

Groaning with frustration, Mercenary whipped out his pistols and squeezed the trigger. Automatic blue blasts shot out of the barrel in a continuous flow, causing Shego to run for cover. The blasts tore up the bed, walls, and furniture. Shego's head peeked out and she threw a blast of plasma at him return, but Mercenary dodged it by diving to the left. When he turned around, she was already on top of him, punching him in the face and stomach.

Mercenary grabbed her fist before it could reach his face a fifth time and electrocuted her from contact. Shego was shocked so intensely that she was thrown across the room, slammed into the wall, and sunk down to the floor. Her body was slightly steaming from that attack, and her arms trembled as she tried to hold herself up. Mercenary slowly stood up and walked over to her, pointing his gun's barrel at her forehead and, with it, pushing her head against the wall.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Nathan heard Kim's voice behind him. "Mercenary," she said, pleading, "don't do it."

He sighed, "I was hoping that you'd stay out of this, Kim. I don't know how you found me: you couldn't have found this place, not without me contacting you."

"Wade's pretty resourceful," she explained, still with a pleading tone to make him put the gun down, "I got here because Wade found out about a break-in at an apartment, this apartment. Five minutes of clicking and typing told him who rented it. From there, we put the pieces together. Huh, you always said the Jade Claw was a 'he.'"

"I lied. I didn't want you know who I was really going after. It could have led to some uncomfortable situations between us."

"How long have you known?" she asked.

"Almost since the beginning," he replied, "but my suspicions were confirmed when I attacked Suboto's jungle. Shego must have had the whole place painted green during her reign." He paused for a bit and turned his head toward her, "Tell me one thing, Kim. Why are you really here?"

"Don't kill Shego. She hasn't done anything wrong."

"She's your enemy."

"Yeah, but not this time, she isn't. Sure, she started a shady organization that exploited people, but according to the records, she hasn't been active in over three years. She's innocent today."

Mercenary struggled to get out the next set of words, as if he was lying to himself, "It doesn't matter. She's nothing but a _price_."

"She's a human being. You know what you're saying isn't true, and I know you don't want to do this."

Shego wasn't going to wait around for these two to decide her fate. She used her legs to trip Mercenary and, getting up, sprang toward the window. Shego dived out into the night, still wearing nothing but a bath towel. As Mercenary groaned angrily, Shego landed on a motorcycle, threw off the driver, and claimed it as her own, taking off. Mercenary pushed a button on his wrist, sending over his airship.

Kim grabbed his arm, crying, "Wait!" But Mercenary shoved her back and jumped off the ledge, taking hold of a metal bar on his airship, which then sped after the Jade Claw on the motorcycle. Kim grunted as she ran to the window. Taking out her grapple hair dryer, she fired at the airship. It caught hold on the back end. She was yanked off the terrace and was soon being pulled through the air.

Ever since his reputation had been established, Mercenary never let anyone get away. That was one of the reasons why he was so well-known. He practically had a 5 out of 5 record, unlike Mr. Spite, who had been known to let his prey slip away on occasion. Here, Mercenary was fully capable of capturing his bounty: it wasn't like he couldn't. Now was the time he would decide whether or not to fully accept Kim's love and give up his reputation.

No, he thought, he would not let Shego get away. It didn't matter if Kim loved him or not: she would eventually find out who he really was and stop loving him anyway. Angels don't love murderers! Mercenary was too far into this that not even someone like Kim could forgive him for all the wrongs he'd done. He had to capture Shego. Girls come and go, but a reputation need only be broken once.

Mercenary ejected himself from his airship and began to fall toward Shego riding on the motorcycle. She was moving too fast for him to tackle her again from his fall, so he had to use a different approach. Pressing a small button on the base of his left wrist, Mercenary brought forth a new form of transportation. A silver Honda Ridgeline burst out of an alleyway and began automatic pursuit of Shego. Mercenary landed on the Ridgeline's sunroof and climbed in.

Shego made a sharp right turn at the next intersection, but Mercenary was not far behind her. She reached back and fired multiple blasts of plasma, all of which bounced off the hood and windshield of Mercenary's Ridgeline. Meanwhile, Mercenary's airship was also attacking Shego, firing missiles at her left and right. She had to yank the bike to the right then left side of the road to avoid the projectiles. The airship then unleashed a continuous barrage of bullets that were terrorizing the back end of the motorcycle.

Only now did Shego realize that her getaway vehicle wasn't going to work. The back tire had blown, and Mercenary was still in pursuit. She had to get away. Then Shego spotted a construction site and a ramp that led over the fence to it. She pushed with everything the motorcycle had to go full speed at the ramp. Shego pulled up as she went off the ramp, soaring twenty then thirty feet into the air. She positioned her feet to where they were on the seat of the bike and pushed herself off, leaping at the semi-constructed building.

Mercenary, knowing his Ridgeline would not make the jump and, more importantly, that he would not survive if he remained in it, opened the sunroof and rocketed himself out of the truck with his jetpack. Just as he was about to engage Shego, who was standing on a girder—he was surprised that the towel was still on her—he felt something hit him. Kim had jumped off the pursuing airship and dove at Mercenary in midair. She grabbed him as he hovered there.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" he yelled as Kim pushed down on his back, making the jetpack carry them off madly. It twisted and turned in the air, moving ten times faster than any amusement part ride. There was actually danger involved here: what was Kim thinking? She held on to Mercenary as they both soared through the air at a tremendous velocity. Kim tugged on his left side, making them turn back to the construction site.

"YOU'RE CRAZY!" Mercenary shouted as they sped at and through the girders, "I'm your only chance to get down! Let me go or we both die!"

Kim pulled on him harder and harder, making him change direction constantly. They made six circles in less than two seconds, spiked downwards, cut sharply to the left, jolted upwards, twisted left again, and swerved through the city streets. Mercenary pushed on Kim's face, trying to push her off him so that he could regain control. But finally, with a cry, Kim and Mercenary came to a stop when she pushed off him and was slammed into a brick wall on the thirteenth floor of the near-constructed building.

Mercenary flew at amazing speed, crashing loudly into and through two girders, coming to an abrupt stop. He fell from these two pieces of metal, landing on a crosswalk. He lay there on his back, badly injured. Kim was in no less condition: she was deeply bruised, cut up on her arms and chest, and bleeding. She limped over and looked at Shego, who was above her and trying to get down. Mercenay's hand quivered as he touched his head, which throbbed, and then his chest and rib.

Though his suit was terribly torn up, he still tried to get to his shaking feet. "Nathan!" Sara said in a static, garbled tone, "Are you alright?"

"Not really," he whispered, "Kim just kicked my ass. Ow."

"Did Shego get away?"

"Not yet," he answered in a determined, firm tone. Mercenary reached up, still clutching his side, and pulled himself to the floor of girders above. This was the one that Kim was on, and Shego was two more up. Kim figured out that Mercenary was still going to go after Shego, and Shego stopped climbing down, realizing that these two were coming to her.

Mercenary drew the only pistol he had left: he had lost the other one during his mad fly around with Kim. The barrel of the gun trembled as it was pointed toward a frightened Shego. Kim climbed up, limped over to Shego, standing between her and Mercenary. "Please," Kim pleaded, spreading her arms, "don't do it, Mercenary. You spoke to me once of how we're pulled into situations where the choice never mattered. Well, here you have a choice. You don't have to live this life if you don't want to. It all starts with _one_ choice not to do it."

"I'm afraid it's not as simple as that," Mercenary said, his voice-box breaking, "There's more reasons that I do this than the money. Shego's name was just on a list: it's nothing personal with her. Now, back away."

"You're willing to destroy our friendship just for money?" Kim asked.

"We're not friends."

"Still, I value your life, Mercenary, and I value Shego's. We're all human beings. We all deserve to live. No one of us can decide who lives and who dies. It's not our place. And, it's not your place to take Shego's life."

"That's why they call me a murderer."

Kim frowned. The blood on her lip tricked down to her neck. "Look at what you're doing," she said, "hasn't there been enough killing? During my time with you, I've seen so much senseless death caused. Now, it can end, Mercenary. You can make it end. I'm giving you a chance to be free from this."

"You play the hero. I play the villain. We're at two different ends of the chessboard."

Then Shego stepped out from behind Kim, looked at her, and said, "That was a lovely speech, Princess. But I have to go." She produced what looked like a large pipe and smacked Kim across the back of the head, knocking her unconscious and sending her off the side of the building. Shego laughed and made to leave.

In this very moment would Nathan Porter decide if he would accept Kim's love or not. Would he give up what he valued most, his reputation? Or would he go after the angel that had saved him? He remembered when they first met, at Global Justice Warehouses. He remembered her telling him to get out of her seat. He remembered Borders, "You're still here?" He remembered Max and Erma's. He remembered the kiss. He remembered the clock tower.

She would be dead in five seconds. He looked at Kim falling and then at Shego, who was running away so fast it was like she expected him to come after her. If she got away, the price on her head would expire. This was the moment of truth: it was either money or love; Kim or Shego, Mercenary or Nathan, life or death. He pushed with all his strength to jump off the girder, diving after Kim, his angel. He said a prayer and it came true: his jetpack worked. He swooped down and caught Kim just before she splattered across the concrete.

As he flew into the night, carrying her, Nathan looked at her beautiful face. She was unconscious, asleep. Seeing her like this made him sad: she would never know that he saved her life. He wouldn't tell her. Nathan knew that if she found out who he really was, she would come to hate him and not want anything to do with him. He repeated those words, "Angels don't love murderers."

And as he wondered where Shego was going, he couldn't help but wonder: did she know about his connection to Kim? Why else did she smack Kim like that? Out of sheer spite, perhaps. But Nathan sighed: Kim was right. He didn't have to go down this road, but he was tainted. He wouldn't stop until he found and killed the Demon. Plus, he couldn't just stop being Mercenary like that. Some would get very upset.

He wondered if he would ever tell Kim that he saved her. But he dismissed the idea quickly, thinking that she would never understand. She wouldn't remember that Shego knocked her off the girder; she wouldn't remember anything like that. It was okay, Nathan thought. It was better for her to concern herself with her usual stuff and not with Mercenary.

He was a lost cause.

---

Kim Possible woke up in the morning with one monster headache. She found herself back in her bedroom at her house in Middleton. She wasn't in her mission clothes anymore: no, she was comfortably dressed in her pajamas. What Kim thought was odd was that her hands and arms were bandaged up, meaning that the night and her experience hadn't been a dream. How could she have gotten injured if it was all a dream?

No, it was clear that somebody had brought her home. Kim just wasn't sure who, that's all. She limped (well, the limp was basically gone by now) to the kitchen where she found her parents and little brothers eating a pancake breakfast. They gasped and practically screamed when they saw Kim, as if they didn't know she was so beaten up. The redhead inquired who had brought her home, but her father stated that neither he nor his wife knew that Kim had even gone out last night.

Then Kim told of what she remembered about the mission: the whole thing with Shego's penthouse. Seeing that her parents were not following, Kim dismissed herself and went to call Ron, who was just as surprised as they were. Well, he wasn't surprised that she had gone out on a mission without him; he was more shocked at the sight of her bandages. Someone seriously took the time to make sure that Kim was okay. Ron assured Kim that it wasn't him.

Kim sighed and called Wade, asking if he had phoned in a favor from someone she'd helped in the past. He said that he didn't even know she'd gotten hurt. It was, after all, the middle of the night when Kim engaged Mercenary and Shego in combat. Kim called the police and Tri City hospital, asking if anyone had spotted her lying at the foot of the construction site and taken her in. None of them did. Kim narrowed her eyes: that left only one option.

She called Mercenary. He was the only other one who had known that she'd gone out that night. He must have captured Shego and came back for Kim, she thought. But when she spoke to Mercenary, he said that he could care less about her welfare. He said he went chasing after Shego, leaving Kim for dead. He told her that she just got in his way and that she was a pain in the ass. In fact, he said that because of Kim, Shego got away. Albeit the fact that Mercenary said that Shego escaped during his pursuit of her.

Kim frowned when she heard this. What she didn't know was that he was lying. She didn't know that he had held her throughout the flight back to his lair. She didn't know that he had tenderly nursed her and wiped away the blood. She would never know that he had taken off his helmet and put his forehead to hers, uttering small sobs upon her unconscious, injured body. Kim didn't know that he had stroked her head gently as he bandaged up her wounds. He was hurt to see her hurt.

She also would never know that he had taken her back to her home and snuck back into her room, carrying her in his arms, gently putting on her pajamas without perversely looking at any of her body parts. She wouldn't know that he respected her enough to treat her like the angel she was. She was still out cold when he tucked her in, rubbing her warm and bathed shoulder. Just as he left, he looked back at her sleeping, seeing that she was as comfortable as someone who went to bed just after they took a hot shower. Sara was kind enough to help her with that.

Kim eventually accepted that someone was Global Justice, a secret spy organization that Kim occasionally assisted, had been responsible for her recuperation. Though they denied it, Kim smirked at their response. GJ was always shifting the glory away when they justly deserved it. She would come to hold them in high regard because of this, although Dr. Director (leader of GJ) continually denied ever knowing about Kim's mission with Mercenary and her recent battle injuries.

As for Mercenary himself, he was disappointed. The price had expired: there was no reward for Shego's capture anymore. He let her get away. There wasn't any profit in going after Shego now. And as Nathan rested his head by a window in his lair, Sara tried to comfort him, saying that everything would be all right. She said that the important thing was that he had saved Kim, even though she would never know about it.

"No, Sara," he said, turning back to her, whose face looked like a human complexion made up of the Aurora Borealis, "Kim saved _me_. Well, she is _saving_ me, I guess. It's weird, Sara, because Kim is the first person I've ever met that has made me want to give up this lifestyle. Yeah, I know I made a promise, and I was doing this for a long time because of the money and thrill, but Kim cancels all that out. A small part of me wants to have her rather than kill the Demon. I know it sounds crazy."

"No, Nathan," Sara whispered, "it doesn't."

---

Mercenary decided to pay Shego a visit. It wasn't hard to find her again, once he had researched her other hiding spots in the same district as the Tri City penthouse. Apparently, Shego wanted something of a vacation, so she handpicked a number of spots to have it. What she didn't expect was that Mercenary was hot on her tracks. She was back in her black and green outfit when he approached her. True, seeing Mercenary again scared the bejesus out of her, but he assured her, "I'm not here to fight."

"Then what are you here for?"

"I'm serious, Shego. You can put down your flaming hands now. Besides, the bounty on your cute head has expired: killing you or capturing you gains me nothing. I don't work like that. So, no hard feelings?"

"Whatever," she replied in a sour tone. "Just tell me what you want and then leave."

"As you wish," he said, putting his hands behind his back and taking a deep breath. "A while ago, you started the Slashers, and you were the high priestess or whatever to them. Since then, you've had small but noticeable influence in their affairs. So, Kim was wrong: you aren't completely innocent."

"What's your point?"

"I think you're the only person that can stop this operation. You're the only one that can disband the Slashers and shut them down. They respect and adore you, so your word would be law to them. I'm asking that you stop and destroy the Slashers and all production of death drugs."

"Why? Did Tubba put you up to this?"

Mercenary smiled under the helmet, "Tubba has agreed to pull out only if you do. He doesn't want any trouble from me, so he's decided to seek a more legitimate career. The other competition won't last if you guys don't supply, as I know you do. Hank Clay's operation was destroyed a few days ago, by unknown causes."

"Is this a threat?" Shego asked, folding her arms.

"No," he replied, "and it's not an ultimatum either. I'm just letting you know that Global Justice might have a sudden interest in shutting down all things related to death drugs, now that Kim Possible has gone to them and told them everything. I can, however, make some changes to the Global Justice record banks, but only if I get your cooperation."

"You're a part of Global Justice?"

"No, but Dr. Director and I have an agreement."

"Well, what do I get out of this?"

"Months (if not _years_) of relentless pursuit, interrogation, and any other forms of question-asking, that's what. I'm just trying to keep you out of an uncomfortable situation. Point being, Shego, I'm offering you a fresh start, a chance to forget about the Jade Claw and this shadowed past. You can wipe the slate clean, relatively speaking. It could save you much prison time, that's for sure."

"What about you?"

"Oh," Mercenary chuckled, "if I get caught, I'll go to prison forever."

"No, I mean what do you get out of this?"

Mercenary put his hands on his hips, "If you promise to disband the Slashers, I'll tell you."

"Okay, deal."

"I'll hold you to that," he stated firmly, putting one hand on his pistol.

But as Shego waited him to answer her question, Mercenary backed away and started to leave, greatly upsetting her. He did, however, turn back to Shego right before he walked out the door, uttering a few articulate words that gave her the answer. "It's what Kim would have wanted," he muttered. And then he was gone. Shego breathed deeply for a second and brushed back her hair.

---

Kim was surprised to see Nathan at her doorstep as soon as she stepped outside. He embraced her and started kissing her all over her face. It was quite tickling; Kim started to giggle. "When I heard about your injury last night," he said, breaking each word with a peck, "I just had to come over and see you. Are you all right? Are you? Kim?" But she hadn't stopped giggling: his kisses were soft.

"No!" she yelped as the kissing intensified, "I'm all beaten up! I'm hideous and covered in dried blood! Don't kiss me when I'm like this!"

"You're still pretty," he said, pulling her in to a long kiss on the lips. She gave in and put her arms around the back of his head, pulling him closer (if that were possible). They stood there for a long time. Nathan wanted to tell her so many things. He wanted to apologize; he wanted to call her his "angel;" he wanted to tell her everything; he wanted to tell her that she was saving him. However, Kim never let him get the words out.

But unbeknownst to them, someone was watching. And that someone was not pleased at what he was seeing. He wanted to tear those two apart. And here's the tricky part: he _knew_ Nathan Porter's secret. Oh, he knew it well. As he hid there in the distance, this guy clinched his fist and cursed. He cursed Nathan Porter: he cursed Mercenary. He had yet to finish the plan carried out that would kill his enemy, but it would come soon.

---

Nathan returned home that evening wearing his armor and helmet. As he disembarked his airship, he pressed the buttons on the back of his helmet that allowed it to come off. There was still some sense of self-loathing in his eyes, but for the most part, it was gone. Kim had that effect on him, he guessed. He hoped that it was going to be a quiet night. He was wrong, as usual.

Just as he was walking through the hangar, three stunningly beautiful enchantresses appeared from a flash of light. One had blond hair and was called Phoebe, one had black hair and was called Selene, and one had white hair and was called Luna. These were the Weird Sisters. They were known to change shape. Nevertheless, they were the same enchanted beings that united the Demon to Macbeth and made her immortal. Nathan knew these creatures well.

"Can't you guys ever leave me alone?" Nathan asked, sounding cold as ever. "I already did your stupid bidding for you. What was the point of me hunting Shego anyway? Did you just want the Slashers disbanded or what? Anyway, I did your little chore for you, now tell me where the Demon is hiding. I know you know where she is."

"Patience," Luna, the white haired sister, said, "all will come to a head in time."

"You know what? Forget this! If you're not going to help me find my enemy, then I'm through being you're little errand boy. I'm sick of your empty promises."

"You know what we want," Phoebe, the blond, sang.

"Oh yeah? Well, you're not getting it. I'm saving that."

"It is unwise to defy us, Nathan Porter."

"My father followed your commands, and look where it got him."

"Your father defied and disobeyed us. You are still a young man, so we are kind enough to give you some leniency. Do not take it for granted. As a wise and powerful man once said, 'You would have no power were it not given to you.' Remember your place, Nathan Porter."

"You're just no help to anyone but yourselves, aren't you?" he shouted. "Go away!"

But they ignored him and blocked off his exit, saying in unison, "The one you have affections for, this girl, you must stay away from her. We command it. If you defy us in this matter, you and she will suffer greatly. Is that what you want?"

"I think we'll manage."

"Think well on this issue, Nathan Porter, and do not be foolish. If you truly love the one called Kim Possible, you will quit her immediately."

"Kim actually gives me something that you've neglected: fulfillment. You won't find any fulfillment from me, so look for it amongst yourselves. I'm sick of you three. You're nothing but trouble."

"So arrogant for a boy," the dark-haired Selene said to the white-haired Luna. "We warn you, Nathan Porter, that what you seek in her is impossible."

Nathan grinned, "Whoso loves, believes the impossible."

"You have chosen tragedy then," they all said at last to him. "So be it."

THE END?

Next: "Mission: Mercenary" (ONESHOT)


End file.
